


Seven Days to Lead Me Home

by whiteroseofthemoon



Series: Seven Days [2]
Category: Community (TV)
Genre: Canon Compliant, Canon Universe, Episode: s06e13 Emotional Consequences of Broadcast Television, F/M, Fluff and Angst, Romance, Smut
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-04
Updated: 2021-01-17
Packaged: 2021-03-14 23:27:55
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 18
Words: 38,941
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28553883
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/whiteroseofthemoon/pseuds/whiteroseofthemoon
Summary: What happens after the confession in the Study Room? How that conversation will change the lives of Jeff and Annie? Set in a week before the Airport Scene and after 6x13 Emotional Consequences of Broadcast Television, in total takes first 6 months of their lives together. Everything that happened before is canon!A tiny bit of a crossover with “Criminal Minds” but really just a nod to Emily Prentiss aka Paget Brewster (Frankie Dart actress) who I love with all my heart. A lot of OCs, but the old gang is there too, of course.P.S Originally it was three separate fics of one series, but I decided to unite them so it would be less confusing to follow the timeline. I am sorry if some of your comments were deleted but I can assure you I read all of them and I appreciate all the support!Lots of love.
Relationships: Annie Edison/Jeff Winger
Series: Seven Days [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2102259
Comments: 29
Kudos: 63





	1. Prologue.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Part 1: Seven Days

‘…And let the kid stuff go.’

They half-joked about those terrible Marvel movies and it felt familiar and right. But Jeff just had to push a little further, to put into words something he never thought was possible for him to feel. Something that until he met Annie, he was sure to be just a fairytale. He doesn’t know how people do that, confess their deepest feelings, so he starts talking, hoping that she will understand what she means to him and how much it takes from him to tell her that. 

‘I let you go, Annie,’ she sighs a little and he can see it, Annie does understand. ‘With my hands and my head,’ he stops for a second knowing that it was now or never. ‘The heart, which cynics say is code for penis, wants what it wants. But I let you go.’

Annie looks at him and he drowns in her eyes. Now, that he opened that door he doesn’t know how on earth he is supposed to let her go. People always say what a beautiful thing love is, but in Jeff’s experience it’s haunting and it makes you miserable. He is waiting for her to say something, anything really. Or maybe it’s too late and whatever she might have felt for him before is gone and she doesn’t know how to tell him without hurting him. Well, he kind of expected it.

‘The others are coming,’ she finally breaks the silence looking down her phone. ‘I think you should kiss me goodbye or you might regret it for the rest of your life.’

‘What about you?’

‘Oh, I'll regret the kiss for a week, I'm in my 20s. Who cares?’

He approaches her slowly and he knows she doesn’t mean it, not really. Her eyes are gentle and a little sad, but there is no regret in them. So, he kisses her and it’s romantic and full of missed opportunities and he hopes he can put all his love into this kiss in case it’s the last one.


	2. Day 1. Saturday.

It was after midnight when they finished their drinks at Britta’s bar. The magnitude of everything that was happening hasn’t hit Jeff yet, but he can feel it’s coming. After they said goodbye to the room, Chang’s coming out and more importantly Annie’s hints that it might not be the end of them, he was feeling on edge. He wanted to talk to her, really talk, somewhere in private where nobody will interrupt them. When did this happen to him? He remembers what he said to Pierce's date a million years ago, that he would always choose something simple and shallow over ‘we need to talk’ kind of relationship. And now he was the one who wanted to have THE talk. And he kind of already started it before the rest of the group came into the study room. Their timing was impeccable as always, just like that time he made out with Slater and every single one of them, including Annie, were just there. Damn, keeping things private in this group seemed next to impossible.

Beside Jeff and Annie, Abed and Britta were the last one to leave the bar. Frankie left a couple of hours earlier, Chang and Craig decided to continue the night at the karaoke bar which, unsurprisingly, no one wanted to join. Britta closed the bar and left home with Abed in tow eyeing him and Annie suspiciously. Abed didn’t say anything to him but Jeff saw that he and Annie talked a little after the study room. He knew that they became really close in the last couple of years and he wondered what would Abed say if he knew what happened today. Jeff valued his opinion and he also knew that Abed was the most perceptive person in the room, looking back now, Jeff realizes that it was Abed who always encouraged Jeff to be open about his feelings for Annie. Hell, he was the one who predicted they would kiss all those years ago when ‘them’ was far beyond anything real, even in Jeff’s imagination. It was Abed who knew the best how miserable Jeff felt for the last year and who always would say things like ‘Every once in awhile…Annie reaches down her shirt’ to make him feel slightly better. Jeff was also pretty sure that Abed figured out about the whole Raquel thing, but he didn’t like to think about it too much, that day was particular unpleasant on so many levels, from his faux-engagement to the fact that he realized what a dead-end his life has become. The only relatively good thing that came out of that day was that they managed to save Greendale. 

His feelings for Annie…well, it wasn’t much of a surprise to him, he just got a physical confirmation of what has been buried right beneath the surface for years and up to this date he is not sure how he feels about it. Not the fact that he was in love with her, but the fact that he pushed it down for so long he is not sure how to fix it and honestly even if he does fix it, can he really have that vision come true? He and Annie married, living in the house, probably having a mortgage and paying taxes together, falling asleep every night in the same bed, going out for coffee and that kid…He saw that kid before in his deepest dreams about a life he wanted to have with Annie. But up until today he never had a name. Sebastian, where did that come from? 

But the biggest question to it all was what Annie wanted? He really had no idea now, she wasn’t a girl anymore with some crush on an older guy, she was a young woman who was about to enter the FBI. And Jeff recognized that it was Annie who is in control of whatever is about to happen between them now and he was fine with that. He won’t hold her back in any case, and if she wants things between them to remain the same as before he will accept it, but he will not run away from her anymore. He can’t keep going through the same loop over and over again, he needs a new chapter in his life, otherwise he will drink himself to death. Whether Annie will be in this chapter, well it’s up to her. But he was praying to the deity he wasn’t sure he believed in, that yeah, she would be. 

‘Hey,’ he heard a quiet voice bringing him back to reality where Abed and Britta just got in the car and left. Annie was standing there in front of him in her smart suit. He really liked this all-business style on her, it was different from the floral dresses but it was still very Annie. Well, the very organized-about-to-take-over-the-world version of Annie. 

‘Hey,’ he smiled at her a little. He knew, of course, that Annie wouldn’t just want to leave things be and she decided to stay here and discuss whatever it was they have to discuss, but he knew he needed to make an effort, after all this time it was only fair. ‘I am glad you stayed, I was kind of hoping we could…you know…talk a little more, without, you know…people…’

He trailed off and got a little embarrassed. God, he was not good at it, thankfully Annie took the matters into her own hands. After all, she knew him better than anyone. 

‘Yeah, I think we should,’ she nodded gently at him. ‘But I would really prefer to go somewhere else instead of just standing here at the parking lot.’

‘Yes, of course! We could go somewhere else, or…’ an idea hit him and he wasn’t sure how she would react. But tonight, was the night of clarity for him, so he just went with it. ‘We could go to my place, to talk I mean!’ he clarified quickly, seeing a little smirk on Annie’s face.

‘Why, why, Jeff Winger, are you trying to lure me in under the false pretense?’

‘Nope, a genuine offer of conversation and maybe some scotch,’ he knew she was teasing him but he needed to make it perfectly clear that his intentions were perfectly innocent. Well, almost. He wasn’t about to tell her about his wet dreams where she would stay overnight at his place. Most of them included not so much talking, as them being naked and doing unspeakable things to each other. Something must have shown on his face because Annie giggled a little and smacked his shoulder. 

‘I don’t drink scotch, Jeff, and you don’t need to be that specific. We’ve known each other for six years, you know I trust you.’

‘I am not sure it’s the wisest decision.’

‘I can’t help it. Whatever happened or might happen, you will always be my best friend.’

Best friends, he thought while they were driving from Britta’s bar to his place. He would be lying if it didn’t hurt him a little, but as they were rushing through the streets, he knew it wasn’t the worst case scenario. It’s not like he was expecting them to start dating immediately or dating at all, she was leaving after all and he still didn’t know if she even wanted him. And dating? It seems weird for them to start dating. They have known each other for six years, they were very close friends, an almost couple for a little less than that, how can they just start dating? If she wanted to be with him, which he wasn’t sure was even in the cards, shouldn’t they skip that part and get married or something? No, that is ridiculous. Annie would never agree to that, she wasn’t Britta who would just say yes to something so spontaneous and frankly speaking unreliable. No, Annie Edison was a planner and right now her plan was the FBI and not settling down with a community college professor who has way too many issues. Not to mention he was sixteen years older and less mature than she ever was. 

His mind was rushing and they didn’t talk much during their small trip to his place. Annie was busy researching the neighborhood she was about to live in DC, she was just hoping it would be better than her place above the sex-shop. 

‘Hmmm,’ she trailed off. ‘Can you believe it? They already sent me the details about my roommate! I just got an email.’

‘Well, they are FBI, so I assume they are doing things your speed,’ he grinned at her.

‘I guess, but still it’s been what? A little over six hours since I got the news?’

‘Aren’t you happy? You always like to be prepared and they are just making it easier for you. How is your roommate? Anything interesting?’

‘Not much, it’s just name and a picture. The file says we will be working together during our internship. Her name is…here it is. Tracy O'Donnell and she comes from Arizona. That’s pretty much it.’ 

‘Is she in the forensics major like you are?’

‘It doesn’t say. Well, I guess I will have to learn it when I get to DC.’

‘Yeah,’ he said quietly. He wanted to be happy for her and a part of him truly was. But there was another part that wanted so badly for her to stay with him. 

They arrived to his building and Jeff was really hoping that dean was somewhere really far away alongside with Chang, because he was in no mood for his flirtation and invites for a late evening/night glass of wine. 

Jeff let Annie inside as they continued talking about her internship and whether or not she will be able to fit in, become friends with this Tracy person. Jeff was sure she got it, but whenever he mentioned it Annie would just smile sadly at him. He didn’t know why she was like that, why would she doubt herself when she has proved again and again how capable and strong she can be. As the time passed by Jeff realized that they still didn’t get to the thing both of them wanted to discuss for real. He didn’t know if Annie did it on purpose, distracting him from the inevitable conversation or was she just giving him time to make a first step. They were sitting on his couch drinking coffee now, Jeff wanted to be sobber and awake for this conversation and Annie, well, she never liked scotch. 

‘Annie, whatever will happen there you can handle it,’ he continued. ‘You survived Greendale for crying out loud! And not only did you survive it you saved it and everybody else in it.’

‘We all pitched in, it wasn’t just me,’ she leans her head a little and he, once again, was mesmerized by how pretty she is. 

‘Yeah, but still…You saved my life, I hope it means something to you,’ he doesn’t want to come out this strong but the words left his mouth before he could stop them. Well, they needed to get to the grey territory eventually.

‘I am not really sure what you mean, Jeff,’ she puts down her coffee mug slowly. She shifted a little bit and now her attention was completely on him.

‘I mean that before you, all of you guys, I was alone for so long that I forgot what it’s like to care for people. You and the group…you guys changed it forever.’

‘Yeah, you did say something like that in the…study room,’ it was clear she was choosing her words carefully. 

‘I said other things too.’

‘Yeah, you sure did,’ Annie’s voice went a little higher than usual. ‘I still can’t believe that you actually…Actually talked to me about it or at least tried to.’

‘Yeah, well, I wasn’t planning on it, if I did plan it, it wouldn’t be interrupted by, well, everybody.’

‘Why did you then? Bring it up, I mean,’ she asked quietly. Jeff was trying to find the right words, but it was hard. He needed her to understand but he didn’t want to scare her off. ‘I mean, we‘ve know each other for so long and you decided to…what? Talk things through right before I leave?’ Ouch, there it was an elephant in the room. 

‘Annie, I…’

‘I just need the truth, Jeff. I need you to be honest with me, no more bullshit about crutches or age difference. Is this your panic reaction to change like it was with Britta last year?’

‘No, I swear it’s not!’ his eyes widened at the thought. Was it really how she saw him now? He accepted that she wasn’t really I-love-butterflies anymore, but did she really think he would do that to her, of all people? Somehow it made him angry and he knew it wasn’t right but he couldn’t help himself. 

‘Then what is it, Jeff? Because,’ she took a deep breath. ‘I am not sure what you want from me.’

‘I want the same thing you do, Annie. I want you to be honest with me.’

‘About what?’

‘You really want me to say it, don’t you?!’ he frowned at Annie’s determined face.

‘Or for the love of God! Yes, Jeff, I do! And it’s not about stroking my ego or being selfish or whatever it is you think with the big head of yours. It’s about the fact that for all the time we’ve known each other whenever I brought this subject up you would just deflect, run away or pretend it wasn’t there. I have no energy left trying to figure you out or nudge you to open up, I gave it up a long time ago and if you want something from me, you need to say it out loud to my face, accepting that there is no going back from whatever you want to say.’

She looked at him expectantly, frustration was written all over her face, he knew she was right. Of course, she was. But the truth was she also knew what it means for Jeff to say it out loud, it’s like jumping of the cliff into unknown waters. The real question was if he would actually be willing to do that and Jeff knew it was Annie’s way to make sure he is actually ready to be open with her, to unveil his most vulnerable and real side which he did show on occasion before. But those were rare glimpses, what Annie wanted from him, always wanted from him is a completion. And that’s why she was so dangerous, that’s why it took so long for him to admit his feelings for her, because Annie had the power over him nobody ever had.

‘A long time ago, Annie, you asked me whether I want you or not,’ he began carefully. He decided he will at least try to be honest with her and see where it goes. ‘The simple answer would be yes, of course I did. You were right, I was jealous of that Rich prick, I did kiss you back after the Tranny dance and it meant something, more than I cared to admit at that time. But the real answer to your question was complicated, if I did give in back then, our…relationship would be like a storm, passionate and wild and slightly dangerous and it would never end well. Because I wasn’t the right guy for you and frankly speaking, I am still not the best option for you.’ He smiled bitterly. It felt like Annie wanted to say something, but didn’t and he was glad she didn’t. It would be easier for him to explain it to her without interruptions. 

‘The real difference between now and then that I changed, I changed a lot and I am not saying I am now all good and dandy, frankly speaking I am the opposite of it, but now…Now I can and more importantly I want to give it all, the good and the bad which there are a lot. You also changed, you grew into this incredible woman you always meant to become and yes, you are older and I know it sound a little condescending but it matters, at least from where I am sitting. And not because of the creepiness, although there is a part of it too…’

Annie stood up and went to the window, Jeff was sure she was hiding her tears from him and he let her, it was the night of the truth and revelations, so he kept talking watching her watching the dark skies. 

‘I am not going to deny that it’s selfish and maybe a little insane to bring this up now, that you are getting ready for a new life, but I had to tell you. I need to know that I did something, because you were right. If I don’t, I will regret it for the rest of my life, everybody is moving on and I want to move on too, I can’t and I don’t want to live this life I lived for the past two years, it just took you and Abed leaving to make me realize how much I resent this purgatory I am in now.’

He approached Annie carefully standing a little behind her, his was right she was crying silently and it was breaking his heart. She noticed his reflection in the window, wiped her tears away and turned to face him. 

‘I love you, Annie,’ he whispered and touched her cheek carefully the way he did a few hours back in the study room. ‘But you already knew that, right? You knew it for a long time.’

‘Of course, I did, Jeff,’ she leaned into his touch, she took his hand into hers. ‘But just having feelings for someone is not enough, all I ever wanted from you is to have a little faith in me, in us, that despite all things you just mentioned we can find a way to make it work. Awhile back I believed it with all my heart.’

‘And now?’

‘I…’ she blinked away the tears and Jeff’s heart stopped. ‘I still believe that, maybe not as strongly as I did before, but I do. I love you too, but you already know what, don’t you?’ 

Jeff almost laughed when she said it, he did know that. But much like Annie, he needed her to say it, to actually commit to whatever this was between them. Now there was no going back for both of them. 

‘I don’t want to go back to Greendale after internship,’ she said looking straight into his eyes. ‘I have no idea if I will have to, if things will collapse there, but I don’t want to come back to Greendale, I know that much. As soon as I get things settled with internship, I will apply to every scholarship possible or job or anything, I want to try my best to get out of here. It’s been too long already.’

‘I wouldn’t expect any less from you,’ Jeff nodded. ‘The truth is, I don’t want to stay here either, this place…It suffocates me. I needed it back in the days, but now it’s a burden I can’t shake off.’

‘Then come with me,’ says Annie firmly. He looks at her and tries to find a hint of hesitation, a doubt, anything that would indicate she just saying it. But he finds none. ‘I know it’s scary, but maybe it will be a little less scary with me by your side. It’s not like we need to have a get-to-know-a-person part to make this decision. It is, of course, if you want me and you…If you want us to become you know ‘us’.’

She didn’t push him, she waited patiently for him to think it through, to let her words sink in. An old him would be scared out of his wits if he received such an offer, but for a new him, a Jeff who is willing to open up, to really live in the moment, it didn’t seem that bad. Fine, it was a terrifying prospect to leave everything behind, even if that behind was bad, it was still familiar and he was almost forty-one. But then he looked at Annie and mentally kicked himself. What did he really have to lose here? He just said how this life here was suffocating him and here was Annie offering him a way out, letting him have not just to dream about their life together but actually live it with her and he hesitates? It’s nothing like a crazy-engagement he had with Britta when Greendale was collapsing. He is not panicking right now, he doesn’t feel the pressure, he doesn’t feel fear. All he can feel is Annie’s eyes on his face and hope and something that he thought he lost forever. Happiness. He felt happy and it turns out that making this decision was the easiest thing he ever did in his life. 

‘Yes,’ he says, surprised by his own voice. ‘I want this, I want us. And I will come with you, if you will have me.’

Annie blinked and her face slowly changed from disbelief to the sunny expression he saw earlier today when she announced her news.

‘Really?’ she still asks for the reassurance. And Jeff knows that from now on it will be his job to make it up for all the times he made her doubt him.

‘Yes,’ he says firmly. ‘In fact, it’s the only thing I never imagined to be possible. And I want it so badly I am ready to pack my bags this instance.’

Annie laughs at him and it feels so good. 

‘So, we are actually doing this?’

‘Yes, if that’s what you want.’

‘I do want and God, I can’t believe you actually agreed to this, but…’ she doesn’t finish the sentence and kisses him. He was stunned for a second at the turn of events but quickly catches up with her. She tastes like coffee and tears and promises of the better tomorrow. He is kissing her until his lips are numb, when he lets her go, he notices that it is almost dawn. 

‘I have one question, though,’ he presses a faint kiss to her forehead and smirks slyly. ‘Who is going to break it to Tracy?’


	3. Day 2. Sunday.

The bid decision was made, so Jeff and Annie spent the entire time they have before Annie’s departure to make a plan. Well, Annie did most of the planning while Jeff was trying to sort things out with his finances, perspectives for job in DC and accommodation. The last part wasn’t that hard, after talking all Saturday about what should they do and how they will get there, Jeff and Annie decided that it was no point at delaying the inevitable. They decided that it was time for them to burn all the bridges and well buy the place of their own. They didn’t have that much money, but they had some. Jeff’s big plan was to sell his place which wouldn’t cost too much but it would be enough to begin with. Annie had her wedding fund that one of her grandmothers established for her before she died. Of course, the initial plan was to save the money, well  
for the big wedding, but plans don’t always play out and that was fine by Annie. She didn’t want to get married yet anyway. They already made several huge decisions about their lives and they needed time to adjust to this new chapter. And honestly the grand wedding plan was never her dream, as surprising as it might be. Yes, when she was a kid, she wanted to have a Disney wedding with hundreds of guests, a huge expensive cake and a Vera Wang wedding dress. But that was before she learned that the real thing is always a little imperfect and it was for the best, because life is messy and cruel, wonderful and complicated and she learned to love it all. 

As much as she wanted Jeff to come with her right away, it was impossible. So, Annie confirmed her placement with the unknown Tracy in DC, talked to her supervisor confirming all the details about the internship and purchased a single plane ticket. Selling Jeff’s apartment, sorting things out with her grandmother’s fund, to actually find and buy a place in DC, for Jeff to find a job there, all that will take more than a week they have here in the Greendale world. Jeff insisted that he wanted to get back to law, he was good at it and Annie knew how much he actually missed it. And frankly speaking, she missed him being so determined, he shined when he was in his element, this force he had in him, his passion and if she was completely honest with herself, his overconfidence when he knew he had everybody’s attention. Those were the first things that she found attractive about him all those years ago. 

But for him to get back to being a fully equipped lawyer, Jeff needed to have his BAR for DC and that required an actual effort. Annie smiled to herself, that was something where Jeff always struggled. She had no doubt that if he puts his mind to it, he will easily get the credentials he needs and she never wanted to pressure him on something like that. He did plan to start a little low-key, there are plenty of law-consultant places that requires people like Jeff, charming, cunning, smart and good with words. In the two years he spent teaching law, he actually learned more than he did in all his four years at Greendale. Of course, he was a little rusty on the whole talk-them-to-do-anything-he-wants department, but Annie was sure it was a matter of his first real challenge into tricking someone. 

It was Sunday afternoon and Annie was getting ready for the date. Her first real date with Jeff which was crazy, of course, given that they spent the entire night and day of Saturday planning their future together. She came back to the apartment 303 yesterday evening, exhausted from all the confessions, tears, and planning. One might have thought that they would have time for…well, having a little fun but they didn’t. By 6 p.m., Annie’s eyes were red from the lack of sleep while Jeff was on his ninth espresso, so they decided to call it a day and take things a little slower. They already had a six-months plan, crafted by one and only Annie Edison, ahead of them and it was enough for now. They decided to salvage the time they have and enjoy each other, before inevitable, albeit temporary, parting. 

When Annie got back home yesterday evening, she was welcomed by two curious faces of her friends. Britta asked her what it felt like a hundred of questions. Abed quoted so many movies and TV shows that Annie felt her head was about to explode. Somehow, she managed to convince them that everything was fine and she will tell them all the news tomorrow. She knew they wouldn’t just drop the subject. When she was at Jeff’s place, she received at least a dozen texts messages and judging from the buzzing on Jeff’s phone he was treated the same way. 

When she woke up Sunday morning, it wasn’t morning per say. It was almost 1 p.m. and Annie fell of the bed when her brain fully registered the time. Never in her lifetime she slept that late! She was 6:30 in the morning Annie Edison! She took a long shower and decided to call Jeff to make sure that everything that happened in the last 36 hours wasn’t a dream and that he didn’t panic or changed his mind. She was almost certain he wouldn’t do that to her, but there still was a little seed of doubt in her mind, not about them together, but about Jeff’s fear of commitment, she couldn’t help it, old habits die hard. When looked at her phone, she noticed two missed calls from Jeff and a text message. She quickly dialed him and was surprised by how relieved he was she called him back. She wasn’t the only one who was afraid and somehow it made her feel better. He was scared of losing her too and it convinced her that the decisions they made yesterday were the right ones. After a few minutes, Jeff suggested they went out on a proper date, he promised to check all the boxes, the dinner, wine, good music. 

They agreed he would pick her up at six, so now it was a quarter to said time and Annie was looking at the mirror checking herself out. Her hair was loose with gentle waves, she was wearing a pair of black high heels. Her makeup was quite modest but highlighted her already big eyes. She chose a black cocktail dress with short sleeves. It was classy and simple, the only thing that was a little daring was her cleavage. But she wanted it that way, she knew that Jeff was really appreciative about this part of her body. She put on her best underwear and shaved off everything that was humanly possible. As much as she appreciated all the romance that Jeff was undoubtedly shooting for tonight, as much as she loved the idea of planning, especially if it was planning for them, she had six years of unresolved sexual tension behind her belt. She was sure Jeff felt the same way, whenever they were kissing yesterday,  
she could feel how tense he was, how hard he was trying to contain himself for the sake of their future. But today she was having none of it. If they have to, they will do it in his car, in the park, in the damn restaurant but they are doing it tonight and she needed to make sure Jeff gets her signal. 

She came out of her room and noticed a disapproving glance from Britta. Thankfully she didn’t say anything, but Annie was sure once Jeff gets here there will be inevitable expatiation. She glanced at her phone it was three minutes to six. Somebody knocked and Annie’s heart skipped a beat. She opened the door and saw Jeff standing right in front of her. He was wearing one of his expensive blue shirts she liked so much, and black pants, he didn’t shave but if to be honest, she loved him with a beard. He was gorgeous and the smug bastard knew that, which only added to his charm. To knock her off completely Jeff brought one single red rose. Annie could feel her legs turning into something soft and it took a lot of her willpower not to swoon right in front of him, but no, she won’t give him that pleasure. She pulled herself together and kissed him on the cheek lightly making sure that the part of her bare chest touched him. He, of course, noticed this little trick and she was pleased that his smugness tuned down a little, she felt a sharp breath when she pulled away and invited him in, and in a split second, Jeff was grinning back at her wearing the same face he always does when they are in the middle of the games of cutesy capers. Yeah, he is planning to break her before she breaks him. Well, bring it on, Winger, she thought to herself putting the rose in a vase. While plotting her seduction plan, she didn’t notice when her roommates blocked the front door. Both of them looked at Jeff and Annie expectantly folding their arms. 

Annie glanced at her date and he nodded slightly, accepting that it’s better to come clean now than wait until their silence on the matter of the status of their relationship and plans will strike back and bite them on the asses. In two big steps Jeff closed the distance between them and took her hand into his. 

‘All right, you too,’ Britta sounded particularly impatient. ‘We got it, you sorted things out, finally, I might add, but what the hell is going on? Why wouldn’t you respond to our messages? And why Annie is not bragging about all her plans in DC? Winger, I swear to God, if you tricked her to stay here with you to fulfil your animalistic needs…’

‘Jeff,’ Abed cut in and Annie was actually hoping for him to start quoting…well, anything because Britta well, was Britta. ‘As happy as I am that the two of you finally took a new step in your relationship, I am inclined to agree with Britta. On the answers part, not the animalistic part. We were there from the beginning with you and the plot demands for us, as those who sticked with you the longest, to get a unique glimpse into your personal lives as inconvenient as it might be for you.’

‘Can we not make this High School musical please?’ Asked Jeff rolling his eyes. ‘Nobody was hiding anything from you. We just needed time…to get things sorted.’

‘Yes,’ nodded Annie squeezing Jeff’s hand tightly. ‘And we do have some news, just please, please, keep an open mind about it, especially you Britta and don’t tell Frankie and the others before Jeff talks to the dean.’

‘I don’t get it. What does the dean have to with the two of you having sex?’ asked Abed. 

‘That’s not it, Abed! The thing is…’ Jeff pouted a little and took a deep breath. ‘Annie and I decided to start our lives together. Not just date, it’s already been way too long. I am quitting Greendale and when all things are done here, I am moving to DC. With Annie,’ Jeff adds in order to clarify any questions. 

Both Britta and Abed looked at them as if both Jeff and Annie grew a pair of extra heads at the very least. Annie could feel that her palm was sweating now or was it Jeff’s? She was waiting for reaction, for a volcano, for anything. Maybe Britta was about to throw something at them. It was a long time before Abed and Britta snapped out of the initial shock. If the situation wasn’t that serious Annie would have been laughing her ass off at the startled faces of her friends. She glanced at Jeff who just raised his eyebrows. 

‘Wow,’ Britta finally broke the silence. ‘I mean, I knew you guys decided to hit it off strong when Jeff brought you flowers…’

‘Correction, I gave Annie a rose and it’s classy. Flowers is something schoolboys do,’ Jeff interrupted but it seemed that Britta wasn’t listening to him.

‘But I didn’t realize how serious it was. Are you two getting married?’

‘No, not yet,’ answered Annie quickly, relieved that the volcano didn’t erupt. ‘It’s a lot of change for now, but somewhere down the road…’

‘We will get there,’ said Jeff confirmed confidently. Annie felt a little lightheaded at how certain he was about this. God, she loved him so much. 

‘So, when have you planned all this?’ asked Abed narrowing his eyes. ‘We assumed, after the study room, the two of you went to resolve the unresolved sexual tension. But I still feel it in the room.’

‘Ew, Abed, gross!’ Annie squealed. ‘Please stop measuring our sexual tension or whatever it is you are doing.’ 

‘So what the hell were you doing all Saturday?’ Britta’s eyes were getting huge. ‘And why didn’t you answer any of our messages or phone calls?’

‘We were planning stuff…talking stuff over,’ answered Annie carefully. 

Abed and Britta looked at each other and then volcano broke. But not in the way Annie expected it. Abed ran off to his room saying that he needs to update Troy and Shirley about a new plot development and Britta was laughing so hard that Annie was scared she will have a heart attack.

‘So, let me get this straight, after SIX years of being back and forth, after all that stolen glances crap, pining and whatever, the day you finally get together you are talking and making binders? Not having wild sex until your penis/vagina fall off?’

Annie wasn’t sure how to react to this, she looked at Britta as if the latter lost her mind. And she certainly didn’t appreciate the way she was describing their potential sex life.

‘What the hell is wrong with you?’ asked Jeff who was a little quicker than Annie but just as annoyed. ‘Who even says things like that? I know I have said it before but now it’s clear more than ever that you becoming a therapist would be a sign of Apocalypses approaching!’

‘How dare you, Winger? I therapized you more than anybody else! And I am sorry, it’s just funny! What happened to you Jeff? Aren’t you supposed to ‘nut up and die alone’? These were your words, not mine! And it doesn’t seem like that time when you and I tried to tie a knot! You are actually planning and stuff, Annie’s style.’

‘Well,’ Jeff glanced down at Annie and smiled a little. ‘Things change. Weren’t you the one who constantly reminded me that I need to evolve?’

‘Yeah, but the best I could hope for is for you to finally sleep with Annie and then when she realizes what an ass you are, she would have dumped you and then you would grow and become a better man! Instead, she made you plan for a picked-fence life!’

‘Britta! Why would you say something like that!’

‘First of all, nobody tricked anybody into anything. Second, Britta, CHANGE THE DAMN MAJOR! And third, we are leaving now.’

‘Wait, wait, guys I am sorry!’ Britta grabbed both their hands. ‘I didn’t mean it a bad way. I meant it…I meant that I am surprised at how fast this progressed. I mean, come one Jeff, it took you six years to ask Annie on a proper date and now the two of you already planned your entire future? It’s something I need to adjust to! But are you sure about this? I mean I know, Annie it must be scary for you to go out there alone…’ she glanced at Jeff. 

‘That’s not about it, Britta. I love Jeff and I want a life with him.’

‘Same here,’ said Jeff. 

‘So, the two of you think that you are what, in love?’ asked Britta her face now changed into something sour-ish. 

‘We don’t think, we are,’ said Jeff firmly. 

‘Oh,’ gasped Britta and looked at them completely in a different way. ‘I mean I knew you guys were into each other, all the age gape kink, plus you know you two have always been really good friends but I didn’t realize…’

‘Age gap kink? Seriously?’ Jeff was now even more annoyed then in the beginning of this interrogation, Annie could feel his arm tense up and she put a hand on his shoulder trying to provide the comfort he needed. 

‘Britta, I think we answered enough of your questions,’ Annie said firmly. ‘Please stop being gross and let us be. Not everything in this world needs to be stripped to basics,’ Annie grabbed her purse and tugged Jeff to the door. 

Abed was still in his room updating their friends and Britta was just starring at Jeff as if she was seeing him for the first time. Annie wasn’t sure Jeff noticed anything because he was bubbling with rage at this point, so she didn’t say a word. She glanced at Britta and made a mental note to talk to her before she leaves for DC. She loved Britta and wanted to make sure she was all right. That they were all right.


	4. Day 3. Monday.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning: explicit.
> 
> The explicit part was originally posted separately, but now the chapter is fully updated! Please enjoy!

He was making love to Annie. If three days ago, someone would have told him that on Monday morning he will be in bed with a very naked and willing Annie Edison, he would have punched that someone in the face because it would have been a cruel joke. But it wasn’t. It was very real and Jeff thought that if it was possible to die from pleasure that would be it. 

After the talk at apartment 303, Jeff was mad, really mad at all the suggestions Britta made. When they got into the car Jeff put his head on the wheel trying to calm himself down. He felt Annie’s little hand on his shoulder and met her reassuring and determined gaze. She told him that he should just let it go, that Britta didn’t mean anything bad and that even if she did, Annie didn’t care. This was their time and if Britta or anyone else can’t handle it, it’s not their problem. She knew how uncomfortable he has always been with their age difference, so she mentioned all the celebrity couples or TV couples she could remember who worked perfectly fine even being 25 years apart. 

He smiled at her and relaxed a little. She was right, they needed to go pass it. He planned an excellent evening for them and Annie looked gorgeous. He noticed, of course, he noticed the way she welcomed him into the apartment. He knew that she noticed he chose her favorite shirt to impress her and of course he added a little touch of a classic gentleman move when brought her that rose. Annie was a romantic, she had a wedding binder and wanted to have Disney-date. Of course, he knew that she most of the money her grandma left her will go for their house and he felt guilty about it. He wished he could give her it all, the house and the wedding of her dreams. But they have to work with what they have and what was in their reach. So, if he can’t give her a fairytale wedding, at least he can do is to give her a perfect date and maybe one day he would agree to go to Disneyland. Preferably when they already have a kid, so he would have an actual excuse to be there as a middle-aged man. 

The dinner was perfect, Annie laughed at his jokes and smiled all the time, the incident with Britta was long forgotten and they were fully enjoying each other’s company as a couple. After the second glass of wine, Jeff noticed that Annie’s cheeks and upper part of the chest turned slightly pink. He shifted a little knowing that now their little game can begin. He wanted so badly for her to give in first, because this was something he was really good at. Seduction, foreplay, getting the girl. But he also knew that the usual rules didn’t really apply tonight. She wasn’t just a girl and the foreplay lasted at least five years too long, so when he felt her foot nudged him playfully on his calf, he knew that this time he was the prey as well. When Annie arched her back a little bit to give him a better look at herself, he clenched his teeth so he didn’t moan in frustration. He did call her once a precocious little bitch, when she lost that pen and it resulted in them stripping in front of everybody. Jeff knew, that for all her goodness and sweetness, Annie was a force to be reckoned with. She was kind of like an ocean, soothing and warm in the state of calm and wild and unpredictable when challenged or enraged. And now, she knew exactly what she was doing to him. 

After a couple of hours of sweet torture, Jeff couldn’t handle it any longer. He basically dragged Annie to his car and crushed her lips with his. He grabbed her bottom and heard Annie’s self-satisfied moan. She won, again. He didn’t care, all he wanted to do is to get home and make her scream his name while he drives her to the highest point of pleasure. And he wanted to bury himself inside of her, that went without saying. 

They were in his car and Jeff’s blood was racing madly through his body, he tried his best to focus on the road and not on the fact that after they made out Annie’s skin was all pink and her hair slightly disheveled and that she was looking hungrily at him, the way she did at the restaurant, damn her! And then she did something even worse, or better, depends on how to look at it, she put her hand on his knee and went a little up. Jeff’s heart literally stopped, she went higher and higher finally resting her hand on his crotch. 

‘Annie, stop doing that!’ he hissed trying really hard to keep his brain working. 

‘I am not doing anything,’ said Annie fluttering her eyelashes innocently.

‘Your hand on my penis indicates otherwise,’ they were stuck in the red light now and Jeff was literally counting seconds until they get to his place, so he could show Annie exactly what she was doing to him.

‘Do you want me to take it back?’

‘I honestly don’t know how to answer this question,’ the light finally went green and Jeff rushed his car to his building. 

When they got to his place, he half-dragged, half-carried her to the bedroom as they were too busy making out. His initial plan for the evening, was to take it slow, to savor the moment but she was driving him insane all night so he barely managed to get out of his pants and put on a condom before he was already inside of her. She didn’t even take off her damn dress but it seemed she didn’t care. She was calling his name while he was going deeper and deeper and it felt amazing. It was fast and a little rough for the first time but it was filled with passion and restrain of six years, so both of them didn’t last long, he made sure she was the first one to let go, because he couldn’t let her win in everything. 

‘This went entirely different from what I originally had in mind,’ said Jeff looking at Annie lying on his bed. She was absolutely beautiful, all flushed and clearly satisfied with herself and the effect she had on him.

‘Are you upset about it?’ she said grinning at him, knowing well aware that this would be the last thing he would ever regret. She touched his face and he kissed her palm quickly. 

‘Are you kidding me? This was insanely hot! I just always thought our first time would be…slower.’

‘Yeah, I guess six years of restrain can do this to you,’ she rolled on the top of him and kissed him deeply to which he eagerly responded. ‘How about we get cleaned up a little and then, you will show me exactly how you imagined it to be.’

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

*Jeff*

‘Yeah, sure, great,’ mumbled Jeff looking at Annie in awe. He never suspected her to be so comfortable about sex. To be honest, it looked like he felt more nervous and anxious about the whole thing, which was ridiculous, he has been with dozens of women and had a few threesomes behind his belt. Jeff went to the bathroom and stared at his own reflection. His face and chest were slightly flushed from what happened between them, his eyes were full of fire, that he almost lost not so long ago, he hasn’t seen himself like that in a very long time. Tonight, Annie once again managed to throw him off completely, the way she was in the restaurant and in the car, how she prompted him to take her right here and there, this was the side of her he never saw before and he loved it.

When he got back to the bedroom, Annie already got off the bed and fixed her dress, it was her turn to clean up a little, Jeff found a pair of his sweatpants and put them on. It was weird, they had sex just a few minutes ago, but it still felt like he wasn’t allowed to look at her that way, it was probably because he still hasn’t seen her naked, which was completely unfair because she had the whole view of him. In a minute or two he heard her voice calling for him.

‘Jeff, could you help with something here?’ he rushed to her almost certain that she was in a mood for shower sex but when he opened the door, he saw her completely dressed up with a mischievous glimmer in her eyes and a smirk he enjoyed so much.

‘Yeah?’

‘I can’t believe that Britta wasn’t lying about it! You do have a safe with toiletries!’

‘Hey, it’s not that big of a deal,’ Jeff felt a little embarrassed and annoyed. ‘It’s just some creams, there are really expensive! When you are forty, you will be more understanding!’

‘Sure,’ she giggled a little. ‘But can I have things like soap and a towel?’

‘Of course,’ he rolled his eyes. ‘The code is: 2074.’

‘Your birthday?’

‘Yep. You can use my toothbrush if you want, just please don’t open any moisturizers or anything else you don’t recognize!’

‘I promise, don’t worry,’ she leaned to the safe and then looked at him suspiciously. ‘I won’t find anything creepy there, will I? Like that box with your trophies?’

‘What? Of course, not! I threw that stuff away that same day it all came up! And besides, believe it or not I completely forgot about that box until certain people reminded me about it.’

‘OK, fine, don’t worry I am just messing with you…almost,’ she gave him a quick peck on the lips and whispered: ‘give me ten minutes.’

He nodded and left her to her own. Jeff went to the kitchen to get himself a glass of water. Everything was happening so fast, three days ago he was a single man who lived all alone, with no prospects for a relationship, job or  
anything else that might improve his situation, today his house guest is Annie Edison, with whom he went on a date and already had very hot sex, who was now using his toothbrush, he was about to move to another state with the same Annie Edison and he was utterly and completely happy. How did that happen?

He went to the bedroom and checked on his phone, no new messages or phone calls. Well, Annie was right all those years ago, he was texting into nothingness, mostly on dating apps or social media. Now he didn’t need any of those apps anymore and he hoped that he will never need them ever again. He heard light steps and put down his phone. Annie opened the door and smiled at him shyly, she was wearing nothing but a big white towel she found in his cabinet. Her body was all wet from the shower but her hair still had the same waves she curled up for their date. The only source of the light in the room was a nightstand lamp, so Jeff couldn’t see every detail of her skin properly and he really wanted to.

‘So, show me, how you wanted it to be,’ she said quietly. He approached to her carefully, in the same way he did three days ago in the study room and kissed her just as gently. Only this time he was sure it wasn’t their last kiss and that she is not going to leave without him, so he deepened the kiss and Annie opened her mouth for him. She ran her fingers through his hair, letting go of the towel, it fell down and Jeff felt her warm, slightly damp body pressed into his and it ignited the fire in him, he wasn’t rushing things, he wanted to make it slow, because this was his fantasy coming true and he needed time to enjoy it. He knew they had many nights ahead of them, but this was different, this was giving himself completely to a woman, without going back, something he never did before.

He lifted her up and she wrapped her legs around his waist. He felt her heat on his stomach and it felt amazing, he was kissing her hungrily and she was responding in the same way. Jeff put her on the bed and kissed her neck, going down slowly, he noticed a small birthmark between her breasts and knew that this will be his favorite spot from now on, he kissed it softly and went down to her belly and navel until his face was between her legs. He was working her slowly, agonizingly and he could hear that Annie was already impatient, but he enjoyed this power over her way too much, so he continued the sweet torture, with his fingers and his tongue. When Annie was already panting, clearly ready to let go, he stood up and towered over her to enjoy the view under him.

She was breathtakingly beautiful and slightly annoyed with him for not finishing the job, he smirked at her and took off his sweatpants, he rolled a condom on himself and in move he was already inside of her. He was moving carefully, because he was also really close but it was necessary for him that Annie get there first. So, he moved his hips again and again and no matter how much he tried to be slow it wasn’t working the way he intended, the pressure was building up and he was almost there, but thankfully he felt Annie’s quick breath on his neck, her fingernails were now deep in his shoulders and she was now clenching around him, three more moves and he joined her. He was still inside of her and seemed like she shared his idea, because her legs were still around his hips and it felt like she clung unto him to steady herself, to regain control once again.

He rolled to his back, and shifted a little to get the covers from under them, Annie laughed nervously and looked at him with her ridiculously huge eyes, she planted a kiss to his shoulder and snuggled closer to him.

‘All right, I have to admit, your plan was…something,’ she put her hand on his stomach and he met her entwining their fingers.

‘Glad that you finally admit it,’ he smirked at her, he still had stars in his eyes so he closed them for a minute to regain consciousness, he was sure that he blacked out there for a moment. It was embarrassing, he was a grown man and this young woman in his arms was making him feel things, stupidly wonderful things. How was that even real?

‘Finally? This was literally our second time, Jeff,’ he heard her sweet voice in the distance. He wanted to say something, to come up with a quick retort but his head was heavy from pleasure and comfortable tiredness, he hasn’t noticed how he drifted off to asleep.

*Annie*

‘…Finally? This was literally our second time, Jeff,’ she waited for his smart-ass response but in return she heard soft snoring. She looked at Jeff’s face and smiled. He looked so vulnerable and sweet right now, especially for such a big man. His pink lips were parted slightly and Annie couldn’t help herself, she planted a soft kiss to his forehead, doing her best not disturb his sleep. He needed it, she never seen him this peaceful and quiet and she knew, that however eventful these days were for her, for Jeff it was like throwing himself from the bridge into the unknown waters, she knew it cost him everything to be like this with her, to be real and she never felt happier.

She always admired his energy, his ability to impress without so much as a quick-witted sentence, it was sexy and attractive and she enjoyed it immensely, but this side of him was something completely different, only for her eyes to see. He was beautiful, with his stubble and small wrinkles, his ridiculously perfect body and big warm hands. She hesitated a second and left her side of the bed, even if she wanted to, she won’t be able to fall asleep now, she had too many emotions running though her body. She opened Jeff’s closet hoping he wouldn’t mind her borrowing one of his t-shirts, after all, he did let her use his toothbrush, so she guessed it was fine. She didn’t touch his Armani or whatever high-end shirts, because she knew he won’t be comfortable sharing them with anyone, even her. She giggled a little remembering how he lent her his crazy expensive jacket and took it back exactly five seconds later, so Annie went for simple cotton. She found a Greendale t-shirt, it was the one they all had at some point, simple and blue with the Greendale symbol on it, he definitely wouldn’t mind this. She put the t-shirt on and it almost reached her knees, how on earth they were so compatible in bed? Despite their sizes, Annie never felt more comfortable than when Jeff was touching her.

She went to the bathroom and cleaned up herself, after that she realized that she was very thirsty. She went to the kitchen and after two glasses of water relaxed a little. She went to the window and settled herself into the armchair and looked at the sleeping city, it was so quiet and now everything that happened caught up with her too. She didn’t know why but she was crying now, the tears were rolling down her cheeks and she couldn’t stop them, overwhelmed by all the changes and pressure, by this new feeling of fulfilment and happiness she lost all the hope for, it all fell down on her in one heartbeat. This was definitely happy tears, but she was glad Jeff didn’t see her like that, this moment was just Annie’s.

She calmed down and washed her face, she took her phone she found in the purse that was on the floor and saw a few missed text messages, one from Anthony, one from Britta and others from her soon-to-be roommate, her first instinct was to check all of them and to respond, but it was very late so she decided to be sensible and check everything in the morning. She heard heavy steps behind herself and Jeff’s eyes on her back.

‘Hey,’ she smiled seeing his slightly confused face.

‘Hey, for a second there I thought you left.’

‘Why would I leave?’

‘I don’t know…What are you doing here?’ he asked yawning.

‘I couldn’t sleep and I didn’t want to wake you up.’

‘Sorry, I dozed off, today was…’ he was clearly trying to find a suitable word.

‘…Overwhelming?’ she helped him, hoping that he meant something like that.

‘Yeah…Are you all right?’ he asked clearly still a little concerned.

‘Yes, I am better than all right, I am just…happy,’ she breathed out the last word. Jeff’s face split into a boyish grin she loved so much. He took her hand and planted feather kisses to her wrist and arm, staring right into her eyes.

‘I am happy too, I never felt so…’ he didn’t finish his sentence just kissed Annie on the lips, agonizingly softly and tenderly, like she was about to disappear from his grasp. She knew that he was still afraid, that this won’t work out, that one of them will change their mind, she was a little afraid too, so she kissed him back with force and determination, trying to show him that this, them, was something she wanted for the rest of her life.

They went back to the bedroom and she pushed him on the bed, his hands were still on her hips when she took off the t-shirt, his eyes were now focused on her breasts and she smirked. Annie pushed herself down and trailed kisses on his jaw and chest, she went lower and lower until she reached his length, without any hesitation or warning she took him in her mouth and she could hear Jeff cursing under his breath. She worked him faster and faster until she noticed that his knuckles went white from how hard he clenched to the sheets. She let him go and looked around looking for something.

‘Condom…in there,’ he waved on the bedside table, he almost whispered, clearly impatient for her to finish what she started.

‘Yeah,’ she rolled it on him and pushed herself on him in one swift movement. Jeff grabbed her hips so hard Annie was sure she will have bruises tomorrow, but she didn’t care, she enjoyed that he was so possessive and impatient and  
she wanted him to know that, so she pressed her hips even harder and she was pretty sure Jeff was about to break any second now, she touched herself to keep up with him, while driving him into pleasure and as soon as she heard him crying out her name, she was there too.

They were now in his bed after cleaning up again, good thing they were both neat freaks. Jeff was now looking at Annie with the same expression she saw millions of times before, but instead of hiding or turning away when being caught, he wouldn’t break the eye contact. It was if he was trying to talk to her without words and she understood all the things he wanted to say. She thought to herself what would have happened if he didn’t say anything? If they didn’t work things out and she left Greendale behind without knowing the true depth of passion and love he felt for her. It felt like their lives were now split into two halves, one before all this happened and one after. She wondered how long will it be before this honeymoon period wears off and they will have to face the reality. She wondered if they will be strong enough to survive the good and the bad, that life will sooner or later bring for them. One thing was certain for her, whatever comes next, she knew she will never regret giving in, because moments like this makes you feel alive.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

And now they were having morning sex. Surprisingly, he realized he never had one before. This level of intimacy and comfort was something completely new to Jeff. When both of them got what they wanted, Annie went to shower while Jeff took his phone checking on messages and emails. It was 5:43 in the morning. Jesus, he thought to himself, when was the last time he woke up this early? He got up to get some water, waiting for Annie to come back. At the thought of what happened tonight Jeff couldn’t help but grin. He knew they were an amazing team, they always have been and he kind of hoped that the sex will be good as well, but he didn’t expect it to be this mind-blowing good. At least for him, but given how loud Annie was and how well she responded to his every touch, he hoped it was just as great for her, he really brought his A-game tonight. 

Annie entered the room wearing nothing but one of his old Greendale T-shirts which looked like a dress on her, she was, after all freakishly tiny. Her hair was wet after shower and she looked incredibly sexy. She glanced at him with that special smile he knew she held for their moments only and his heart was racing again, how did he live without all of it for the past six years? He couldn’t remember if he tried. 

‘Why are you not naked?’ he teased her giving her the look. Annie blushed a little and fell to bed right next to him. 

‘Because, I just took the shower and as much as I enjoy this,’ she scratched his stomach lightly and he could feel those tingles again. ‘We need to have at least some sleep, Jeff. There is so much we need to do today. I have a list, remember?’

‘Why did I have to fall in love with someone so pathologically organized?’ he chuckled bringing her closer, she gave him a quick peck on the lips and snuggled closer to him. Great, now he was a snuggler. He wanted to stay like this forever. 

‘I guess it has something to do with the yin yang situation,’ she answered quietly. ‘You bring chaos into my life, I bring order into yours.’

‘Chaos? I am not that bad, am I?’

‘You absolutely are but I love it and I love you,’ Annie’s eyes were heavy now as she practically murmured into his chest. He kissed the top of her head gently. A sudden thought formed in his head and he hoped Annie wasn’t too tired. 

‘Hey. I have a question for you.’

‘Mmm,’ whimpered Annie acknowledging she wasn’t asleep yet. 

‘When did you, though?’

‘When did I what?’

‘You know…’ saying this out loud still made him a little uneasy. He felt like a thirteen-year old girl, but his newfound curiosity about this kind of things was stronger than his embarrassment. ‘Knew that you loved me?’

Annie’s eyes were now fully opened and she looked intensely at him. 

‘Does it matter?’

‘Not really, I guess…’ Jeff felt his cheeks burning. Why on Earth did he ask that? Annie will think that he is all clingy and desperate! What if she changes her mind about the whole thing now? His anxiety was about to wash him over and all he wanted to do is to hide in the blankets from Annie’s intense gaze and mocking he was sure will follow. 

‘I don’t know,’ said Annie quietly and Jeff was surprised to hear that she was seriously contemplating his question, the pressure of panic that was pushing him down became a little lighter. ‘I can’t pinpoint the exact moment, my feelings for you were also complicated, you know.’

‘Really?’ he had always been sure that Annie knew exactly what she wanted, she never seemed to be afraid to show her affection.

‘Well, yeah, dahh,’ she smacked his chest a little and he caught her hand squeezing it lightly. ‘And it’s not like I had you help me to figure this out. It did start as a little crush, as you well aware…You were dashing and smart and so different from anyone I met before,’ he wanted to tease her a little about the dashing part, but something told him that this wasn’t the moment, the same way she didn’t mock him for his question. It was one of those close to the heart talks. Just like this, his uncooliness was getting worse, now he was a pillow talking guy and he initiated this. ‘But at that time, it was all so confusing, I liked Troy, I liked Vaughn and there was also you and I couldn’t help but wonder what it would be like with you. And then after Tranny dance, you…well…’

‘I am sorry, I should have handled it better,’ he was still embarrassed about all Britta/Slater/Annie thing he brought on himself. 

‘I know, it doesn’t matter now, it really doesn’t, I promise. I am just going through a memory lane. And you were right, at that time you and me, we wouldn’t have worked. I guess the first time I actually thought about being in love with you when Abed talked to me about it, in his special way.’

‘Abed? He asked you about it?’

‘Hah, not just asked. Remember when I played a matchmaker for Britta and Troy?’

‘Yeah.’

‘We spent an entire day at Dreamatorium because Abed felt like Britta was taking Troy from him and you know that it was my fault. So, he pretended to be you…’

‘Of course, he did,’ Jeff rolled his eyes.

‘Yeah, so he played those scenes from different shows but in each of them it was you and me, you know together. He wanted to get me to confess I was in love with you.’

‘And you did?’

‘No, because I still wasn’t there, not really…How do I put this. I had this waves of feelings for you, you know? It wasn’t something unquestionable, something solid that I knew for sure was true, like now. Maybe I did love you back then already, but I didn’t want to think about it too much because…Well, you made it perfectly clear that we were better off as friends. Of course, deep down I always hoped you would change your mind, but I didn’t want to become one of those girls whose life is completely focused on the guy, so I left that door open, but I still went on dates sometimes and you know enjoyed life without looking into all of this too much.’

Jeff nodded, he completely understood what Annie meant. He glanced back at her and noticed that she frowned a little. 

‘I knew for sure when you came back to Greendale. We didn’t see each other for so long, but when I saw you, it’s like nothing changed and I knew it wasn’t just a crush or something simple that can be dismissed, it was painfully familiar and real. But I knew you were having a rough time, so I didn’t want to add all this for you to deal with. The truth is, after we graduated, I hoped we would stay in touch and maybe…’ she said carefully and Jeff felt another punch of guilt.

‘I wanted that too, but…I couldn’t.’

‘Why not?’

‘Because I had this idiotic plan in my head and it didn’t work one bit,’ he smiled bitterly. ‘I wanted to become this super successful lawyer again, to go wild a little and to become the guy who can get anything and then yeah, I wanted to meet up with you and the others, when things got settled a bit. Maybe I had a thought of asking you out properly, but after I failed…I couldn’t, I felt like I didn’t deserve to be with anyone worthwhile.’

‘I never wanted anything like that from you,’ she whispered.

‘I know, what you wanted from me was much more complicated. But those superficial things, those things were something I could give you easily.’

‘When did you know?’

‘Know what?’

‘How you felt about me? When did you realize?’

‘It’s similar to your experience, painfully so,’ he laughed a little. ‘But the moment I knew there was no going back was at Borchert’s lab.’

‘Weren’t you engaged to Britta at that time?’ she looked doubtfully at him, trying not to sound hurt.

Well, he deserved it, he knew she was less than happy with the choice he made that day, even though it was just for a few hours. He needed to clarify this whole thing with Britta once and for all. 

‘I was…but I never wanted to marry Britta, you knew that back then and I am sure you know that now. I am sorry I hurt you that day, I was scared and angry and even though I despised my Greendale life, it was the only real thing that kept me together. I was a mess, Annie, I was much worse than you or anybody could contemplate,’ he focused on Annie’s fingertips trying not to drown in the memories of the worst year of his life. He could feel Annie’s eyes on him but he couldn’t look back at her now. ‘When my business failed and I became a teacher, it was like I got to square one. I felt like I was back at my first day at Greendale again, I was just as a big asshole as I was back then and I hated everything that was happening. I was about to turn forty years old and I had nothing to show for, no career, no family and I felt like all the personal growth I had back then when we were a Greendale Seven was something that ruined my life. So, it was easier, so much easier to pretend I was the same guy when we first met and when we first met…’

‘You wanted to sleep with Britta.’

‘Yes, but not only that. My entire relationship with Britta was…’ he took a deep breath. He never said those things out loud, it was just as hard as telling how much he cared for Annie. He just hoped that when he is done, she won’t think he was the worst man in the world. ‘When I was with Britta, I was always a mess, because she was a mess and we were just properly bad together. I enjoyed her failures and she enjoyed mine. Don’t get me wrong when we were just friends it was great, because Britta is a truly good person, just not with me. It’s just whenever things got a little further with us, it was always a disaster. It was toxic in the same way it was fun, we were cruel to each other, we hurt each other on purpose and since I was used to people being, well dicks, most of the time, it didn’t bother me. But then,’ he smiled gently and finally looked at her. Annie’s face was in complete focus, she took in every word he just said. ‘Then I became friends with Troy and Abed, and they were a little naïve and ridiculous most of the time, but there was never malice in them. I became friends with Shirley, who would have thought I would concern myself with a Christian single mom? I even learned to appreciate Pierce. And you…’ he rolled on the top of her planting a chaste kiss to her lips. ‘You simply broke into my life, full of color and energy and this idealistic view on…well, pretty much everything. At first, I thought it was because of your youth, but then the more I got to know you…Even after all the crap with your parents, your struggles with addiction, after so many obstacles, after well, me, being in your life, you were just as bright as the day we met, you still are. I thought,’ he smiled to his memories, ‘that with time, you will become as selfish as I am, that you will grow into being more like me, instead I grew into being more like you. You, with the help of all our friends, practically dragged me into this new life, that has real emotions and friendship and…love in it. It’s just when I became a teacher at Greendale, I forgot about it. But then, when I was about to fall into the same old pit tagging Britta alongside with me, you brought me back. When we were down in that lab and you were talking about happiness and desires, it was like I woke up from a bad dream. And that moment I knew, even before I put on that ridiculous hamlet, that’s why I asked you guys to turn around.’

‘For somebody who hates romance, you surely know how to be sappy,’ Annie said quietly, grinning at him, she was practically radiating giddiness. 

‘For that, I blame you completely and you know, before I start vomiting glitter, I need to do something cool and completely unromantic, like go down on you for instance,’ Jeff’s face was already on Annie’s belly as he planted light kisses to her skin. 

‘Oh, I don’t know, I think that could be pretty rom…yess…’ 

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

They finally managed to get out of the apartment. Of course, Jeff would have preferred to stay in bed with Annie all day, making up for the lost time, but she did have a list full of errands to run before her departure to DC and he needed to meet with the realtor who once helped him purchase his current apartment. Jeff dropped Annie off at the mall where she and Abed were supposed to do shopping for their respective trips. They agreed to hang out later today but before that, he needed to attend to his own business. Apart from meeting with realtor, Jeff needed to finish his work at Greendale. He glanced at his phone seeing a missed phone call from Britta. He knew she felt bad about yesterday, but had no desire to discuss anything further with her. They will have time to make amends before he moves away, for now he needs to focus on the future.


	5. Day 4. Tuesday.

Annie was back at her place, she had a full day planned for packing, finishing her essay and arranging the charts and papers for her internship. As much as she loved Jeff and spending time with him, she needed this time to herself. The last few days were so intense and eventful that she wanted to have a moment to catch her breath. Jeff was supposed to spend the evening researching BAR, Annie was happy he was so caught up in the idea, it meant that when she leaves, he will be way too busy to fall back into his self-destructive habits. She will be occupied with her internship and new city, while Jeff needed to cut all the loose ends here. Not that she thought he wouldn’t make it without her, of course he would, but whenever she imagined her life without Jeff in it, especially now that all barriers were broken, she felt as if she was drowning in freezing water. And she knew in her heart, it would be the same for Jeff. 

She was really looking forward to hang out with Britta and Abed tonight. They had the whole evening planned: pizza, buttered noodles and a marathon of Harry Potter movies. Britta even took a day off at work for the occasion. It will be also, the last time they spend their time together as roommates. Plus, Annie kind of hoped to address this issue she was sure Britta had. She felt bad, whatever Jeff might think their relationship was, it might not be the same for Britta. And Annie wanted to make sure there were no hard feelings between them. 

She was alone in the apartment finishing her evaluation for the ‘Top ten places to visit in DC,’ Abed was with his dad and would be back home in an hour or so and Britta went out to buy some cat food and beer. Annie had just finished ordering three large pizzas, when she heard Britta coming home, her hands were busy with bags and Annie rushed to help her out. 

The beer was in the fridge, the cat food was in the cabinet, and the tension between Britta and Annie was just as present. Annie could never really figure out Britta, she was so many things at the same time that it was really hard to get close to her. But Annie did care for Britta a lot, she just wasn’t sure how to bring up the thing that clearly was bothering her without turning this evening into unnecessary drama. 

‘So, how things with Jeff?’ Britta finally broke the silence. Annie mentally applauded Britta’s inability to keep things to herself. 

‘It’s good, but you know, it’s only been a few days, we’ll see, I guess…’ Annie cursed at herself for rambling. 

‘Please, if you were uncertain about this thing, you wouldn’t drag him half across the country.’

‘I am not dragging him. It’s his choice.’

‘I know, I know, you guys are in love, apparently,’ Britta rolled her eyes.

‘Are you mad at me?’ asked Annie quietly. 

‘Why would I be mad at you?’

‘I…Well, first there was Vaughn and now Jeff…I just don’t want to think that I…God…What I am saying is that I never wanted Jeff to stand between us.’

‘Annie, for Jeff to stand between us, I have to be invested in him somehow. And Vaughn? That was years ago, I dated Troy after that and you liked him back in the early days, so I think we are totally cool on the subject.’

‘It’s just the way you reacted the other day, I assumed, well you and Jeff do have history…’ she looked at Britta intensely waiting for the answer. The blonde woman grabbed a beer from the fridge and sighed a little. 

‘It’s not what you think Annie. I am not like you. I don’t see the best in people or whatever and I am definitely a cynic on the whole romance thing. And I can assure you that I am not into Jeff or anything like that. It’s just…When he and I were sleeping together, I always kind of hoped, I don’t know to break this wall around him. But he was so closed off, I mean I didn’t even see inside of his safe with shower stuff! With time I just figured that this is how he is. He was the guy that didn’t care. And I…when he asked me to marry him, which is really weird to discuss with you now, I agreed on a whim, because things always been bad for both of us and it didn’t matter that we were absolutely incompatible or the fact that, apparently, he was in love with you this whole time. God, even saying this makes me sick, Jeff Winger is in love, who would have thought? As I was saying, we were both screwed up and now it turns out that I am more screwed up than Jeff! Can you imagine that? He actually managed to open up and you know acknowledge, whatever he had to acknowledge, he was capable of that the whole time, just not with me. Not that I needed it, really or would have known how to handle it properly. But yeah, that stings and I can admit that. And now the two of you will ride into the sunset holding hands, it’s a big smack to my self-value.’

‘I am sorry,’ said Annie looking down. 

‘It’s not your fault, it’s not even Jeff’s fault, not really. I was never the right person for him, just as he was never the right person for me. What bothers me the most that even knowing all that I still agreed to sleep with him or marry him or whatever. And I am not sure what does it say about me.’

‘I think,’ Annie sat next to Britta trying to find the right words. ‘You were lonely and Jeff was there and I know you hate to admit it, but he is appealing when he wants to be.’

‘Yeah, that he is,’ Britta chuckles a little. ‘Don’t tell him I said that.’

‘Never, I promise. It’s weird to discuss him with you, I have to admit.’

‘It is, but we are friends and I care about you and him. And when I don’t succumb into my pettiness, I can see how happy you are and Jeff…even back then, whenever he was around you, he was so different, sweet and genuinely caring. He was the guy I wanted to see in him, the guy I could actually like. But that side of him has always belonged to you. And now he is making all this big life changes, following your example and I just…I wish I had someone in my life who had just as much faith me as Jeff has in you.’

‘Britta…’ Annie went to hug her and to her relief Britta hugged her back. ‘We all have faith in you!’ 

‘Thanks, but you know what I mean,’ Annie heard that Britta was tearing a little. ‘It’s a lot of change for me too, you know. All of you leaving, sooner or later you and Jeff will get married and start a family, Shirley will still be in Atlanta, Abed will be this huge producer doing some dumb TV-show based on our lives and Troy…Well, even if he does come back, he will certainly join Abed wherever he will end up. And I will be all alone here.’

‘You are not alone! You have Elroy, Frankie and dean and your parents! And you are Britta Perry! You are still the coolest, sexiest girl I have ever met, any guy would be lucky to have you!’

‘Thanks, but it’s not like I need a guy to make me happy, I just miss…us. All of us together, even Pierce. We were unstoppable.’

‘Yeah, but Britta,’ Annie put her hand on Britta’s shoulder. ‘Things can’t always remain the same, it’s not healthy, we all need to evolve, to move on, to find new ways to make us happy. Maybe this, all of us leaving, will be a chance for you to start over as well?’

‘Yeah, maybe,’ Britta took another sip of beer. ‘Hey, don’t worry about me, I’ll be fine. It was just there, and thank you for listening.’

‘You are always welcome! And you can always text me or call me whenever you feel like it.’

‘Okay,’ Britta looked at her phone frowning a little. ‘I should apologize to Jeff, shouldn’t I? For not taking this seriously and…crap, he was always a little too sensitive when it came to your age difference.’

‘Yeah, probably.’

‘I already called him, but he wouldn’t pick up the phone, I guess it’s better to do it in person, anyway. And it’s not like I am never going to see him again.’

‘Of course! And besides, Abed and I were thinking we should all get together at your bar Friday evening. We coordinated our flights so we’ll be leaving at the same time.’

‘OK, cool. Where is Abed by the way? You don’t think his dad decided to tie him up in order to stop him from going to LA?’

‘Britta, his dad is not that bad!’ laughed Annie happy they were back on track.

‘I was just saying…’ Britta never got to finish the sentence. The front door opened and Abed entered the apartment. 

In about fifteen minutes pizza arrived as well. The three of them curled up in front of TV, Abed was in charge of keeping the track of the movies and the buttered noodles, Britta was in charge of beer and keeping her cats in line and Annie was in charge of pizza and hiding all their phones. Their agreed that this evening would be free of worries, significant others, any other friends or social media. 

As they reached a third movie and finished off the second pizza, Abed shifted a little and took both Annie and Britta’s hands. They didn’t say anything, but it was comfy and bittersweet. Annie felt a wave of grief washing over her, which she undoubtedly shared with both Abed and Britta. As much as she was looking forward to her new life, she will miss this, miss them and all her storylines in Greendale.


	6. Day 5. Wednesday.

‘I can’t believe I am meeting your mother!’ squealed Annie for the third time. 

It was Jeff’s idea. The realtor told him that there was a good chance that the apartment will be sold in a couple of months, it was in a nice neighborhood and Jeff kept it in a good shape, he was a perfectionist when it came to things like appearances and it came in handy once in awhile, specifically when selling the apartment. So, he decided to bring some of his stuff to his mother’s place. The plan was to ask her if he could stay with her once the apartment will be sold, before he and Annie will purchase the place of their own. And besides, he did want to introduce her to Annie and to break the news about, well them, and moving across the country and maybe he was a little too excited and content and he wanted his mom to see him like that. 

Jeff was driving while Annie was chatting animatedly next to him, she was adorably worried about meeting his mom. He glanced at her and grinned, Jeff loved hearing her talking this fast, especially when she was all excited, he wasn’t always paying a hundred percent of his attention to what exactly she was saying during those rants, but the sound of her voice always had a soothing effect on him. 

‘You really should have given me a heads up about this!’ Annie shook her head. Her dark hair was styled in her usual Annie-way, she was wearing one of her sun dresses but it wasn’t as bright as she used to wear during her first years at Greendale, it was a simple blue dress which complimented her eyes. She looked absolutely lovely.

‘How was I supposed to do that if we literally just got together?’

‘Yes! That’s my point! You should have given me more time to prepare!’

‘I did ask you if you were OK with this,’ Jeff said carefully. He really hoped he didn’t pressure her into anything. He did feel like they were going a thousand miles per hour in their relationship, but he was more than happy with that.  
But what if Annie wasn’t?

‘That’s not what I mean, Jeff!’ Annie snapped him out of his fear. ‘I meant, that I’ve never done this! You know that I like to be prepared. I don’t know what her favorite drink is, what is her favorite color! Should I call her Mrs. Winger or Doreen? Can I mention that I was an addict? Did you even mention me to her ever? Can I…?’

‘Annie, you are overcomplicating this. Listen, if it makes you feel any better, I have never done this before as well. Not really, the only girlfriend my mom ever met was my prom date and only because she was chaperoning us. And to answer your questions: her favorite drink is tea, she doesn’t drink alcohol at all, not after my dad. I have no idea what her favorite color is, you can call her Ms. Fitzgerald or Doreen, not Winger that’s for sure. I am very new at this, but I am pretty sure mentioning your high-school Adderall incident isn’t ideal for the first meeting. I did mention that I will bring someone with me, I never said who exactly, but I definitely showed her pictures of our group and I did mention your name many times, so I am pretty sure she will recognize you.’

‘That was…impressive!’ said Annie blinking at him.

‘Well, I learned from the best.’

‘How will you introduce me though?’ Annie asked hesitantly after a few minutes. Jeff looked at her not fully understanding the question. ‘I mean should I call you my ‘boyfriend’ from now on?’ 

‘You don’t want to?’ Jeff asked tentatively. It was weird that after everything they’ve been through and talked about, there were still topics that made them, or him at least, sweat. 

‘Not, it’s not that…I just, I don’t know. Girlfriend/Boyfriend thing? It seems kind of…’

‘Small, yeah,’ he knew exactly what she was talking about. ‘But I don’t think that there is a word that would describe a person who is my best friend of six years and who I was in love with for a little less than that, who I technically have been dating for five days, but who I know I will marry soon enough and yeah, that person and I are about to buy a house together and move half across the country leaving behind the baggage that is Greendale. I am pretty sure this word doesn’t exist, at least not in the English language,’ he summed up his speech and grinned at Annie, she was rolling her eyes and if he wasn’t driving, she would totally smack his shoulder. ‘I am just saying if we did get married, like I suggested that wouldn’t be a problem.’

‘Jeff, we talked about this, I want us to get married. And I want us to have a family someday, just like you, but right now we already have so much pressure on us! New jobs, new state, new city and to add up a wedding to this…It’s a lot!’

‘I know, I know. Maybe I am just a little worried that while I am stuck at Greendale, you will be swooned by an FBI agent who looks like that guy from ‘Bones’. And I know, for a fact, you have a celebrity crush on him!’

‘Well, dahh! Have you seen him in ‘Buffy’, he was so hot there!’ Annie giggled when Jeff turned his very annoyed face at her. ‘And besides you are very much aware that I only have eyes for you. In real life,’ she clarified teasingly. ‘In fiction world, I can crush on celebrities as much as I want. If anyone has to be worried, it’s me, you are the one who have a rich history here and I heard from a very reliable source that at least half of Greendale wants to seduce you, with dean Pelton in charge.’

‘Wow, bringing up Craig? That is beneath you. And as much as it flatters me that you admit how desirable I am…’ 

‘Gross, Jeff, the word is gross!’

Jeff couldn’t help but glance at Annie who was now just shaking her head disapprovingly, he loved teasing her just as much.

‘…I have less than zero interest in that. All I want to do is to finish up here and move to DC with you where we can have sex every day for the rest of our lives.’

‘How can you be so adorable and annoying at the same time?’ Annie sighed and then giggled.

‘It’s a gift! But let’s get back to the topic at hand here, what should I call you? Significant other? Fiancee? Future wife and mother of my children? That friend with big boobs I love so much?’

‘Who do you love more, me or my boobs, I wonder?’

‘The jury is still out,’ Jeff was now practically bouncing.

‘You are so gonna pay for this.’

‘Believe me, I am counting on it!’

‘Let’s settle on girlfriend for now, since we can’t find a more adequate word,’ Annie sighed attempting to bring the conversation back on track.

‘So, I am your boyfriend now? As a new boyfriend of yours can I have a naked picture, since you know, you are leaving in a few days and I might get lonely,’ he just couldn’t stop himself. 

‘Keep talking like that, ‘boyfriend’, and the next time you see me naked will be in Washington.’

‘I am coming to visit you in three weeks, it’s not that bad,’ he grinned at her. 

‘I meant when you move there permanently.’

‘All right, that’s a valid threat. But maybe you could still consider a bikini picture at least.’

‘You have such a poor imagination,’ said Annie slowly and Jeff heard a note of seductiveness in it. He was curious where she was going with it.

‘With all the video calls, texting and everything, the best you could do is ask for my naked picture?’

‘Point taken,’ pouted Jeff wondering when exactly Annie turned from spinster librarian, who wouldn’t even say penis out loud, to someone who would freely suggest sexting and sexy video calls. Was it Vaughn? Nope, he didn’t want to think about that tiny-nippelled hippie with his Annie. He was history, long gone and forgotten. However, Jeff did enjoy going back to her little performance during their Dungeons and Dragons game or her lap dance in the Santa outfit, or the way she looked when they were shooting that awful movie. Boy or boy the dreams he had after these…Well, he was only human. 

Jeff decided not to go that road for now, they were, after all, about to meet his mother in ten minutes time, but he did make a mental note in his head about his plans for when they get back.

They arrived to his childhood home and Jeff hesitated for a second. He didn’t particularly likes coming here, this was the house he grew up in and it brought way too many painful memories about his father. But he looked at Annie and knew it was worth it, maybe her being here will make some good memories, enough for him to hold onto while she will be in DC. His mother was waiting for them already, they were a little late. He kissed her cheek while she hugged him tightly. He really should have visited her more often. 

‘Honey, it so good to see you! And with a friend, no less! Let me look at you, dear.’

‘It’s a pleasure to meet you Ms. Fitzgerald!’ Annie’s voice was a little unsteady. 

‘Oh, please, call me Doreen, it’s not every day that Jeffrey brings such a lovely lady for me to meet! Please come in, I made us some tea.’ 

They were sitting in the living room and the conversation went smoothly and Jeff relaxed a little. He knew his mother would love Annie, but she would, of course, notice how much younger Annie was and they did have some pretty big news to share. After Doreen brought a second round of cookies, which Jeff let himself have to keep the mood going, he squeezed Annie’s hand, it was their signal to turn conversation to a more serious trope. 

‘I love your place, Doreen,’ said Annie, very subtle, he thought sarcastically shooting her a look. ‘Jeff was lucky to grow up in such a lovely home!’

‘Why thank you, Annie! You are very sweet.’

‘Speaking of homes, mom, I have some news. Annie and I…’

‘Oh, how exciting!’ Doreen beamed at them. ‘I knew that if you ever bring somebody for me to meet that would be it. But I haven’t seen any ring on Annie’s hand. Jeffrey, you can’t propose without a ring, it’s not how I raised you.’

‘What?! No, mom, listen. Annie and I are not getting married, yet. I mean we will, but not just right now. We are here to tell you that I am selling my place and moving to DC, with Annie.’

‘Oh…’

‘I am sorry, I know it’s a lot, but…’

‘No, no, Jeffrey, I think it’s great. Honestly, I was wondering if you ever going to leave this place,’ Jeff wasn’t sure how to take it, his mother noticed it and smiled at him. ‘Don’t get me wrong, I love to have you around, even though I wish you would have visited more often, but you were never really happy here not even when you were doing your little lawyer…thingy. Was it your idea, Annie? You seem like a smart girl.’

‘Well, it wasn’t exactly an idea, I just got an internship, in Washington and I asked Jeff if he wants to come with me, so…yeah.’

‘An internship? What for?’

‘Well, it’s nothing big, just…’

‘She is being modest,’ Jeff interrupted taking another cookie. ‘Annie is going to work for FBI.’

‘Jeff, it’s just an internship!’

‘We both know that they will love you there and in ten years you will be their boss.’

‘Jeeeff, you are embarrassing me!’

‘What? It’s true!’ 

‘You two are adorable,’ smiled Doreen.


	7. Day 6. Thursday.

Annie and Jeff arrived at Greendale. Annie needed to get necessary papers in case she will transfer to another college. She already found a few options for herself, but she wasn’t going to put her hopes too high. Getting everything together at the same time is not something that happens naturally and she was ready for setbacks that might come with it. She decided that if she absolutely have to, she will get her last few credits online, she was sure that Frankie and dean wouldn’t mind. She wasn’t too worried about getting a job after her internship, even if the FBI won’t offer her anything permanent, she hoped to find something to do in DC. Both she and Jeff knew that the transition period will not be very easy, but they agreed the result will be worth it. 

They were at dean’s office waiting for Frankie to bring whatever paperwork Annie needed to fill in. Jeff’s idea was, since they were already here, to talk to dean about his own plans. Dean, after all, was a friend and Jeff wanted to give him a head start so he would find a replacement for his law professor position, it would take time, not many teachers were eager to join Greendale. 

‘I don’t understand, Jeffrey!’ said dean with tears in his eyes. ‘Why would you leave like that? Didn’t you not feel welcome here? Maybe you should think more about it?’

Jeff glanced at Annie and sighed. Annie knew he was expecting a scene from the dean, she couldn’t help herself and smirked. 

‘Dean, as much as I appreciate your…erm concern, but I won’t change my mind.’

‘Is this about my costumes? Is it about Chang? I swear one word and…’

‘Dean, it’s not that! I just think that it’s time for me to move on from this place.’

‘I don’t get it, first Abed decides to take off to make movies, then you miss,’ he pointed at Annie his bony finger, ‘got an internship and in the FBI, no less! Now you, Jeffrey, decide to quit? What’s next, Britta will join the army? Is Frankie going to become an astronaut? Is Chang going back to Hollywood?’

‘Dean Pelton, please stop hyperactivating, everything is fine, isn’t that good that your students are off to such good things?’ Annie was trying to reason with him. 

‘Well, yes, I suppose! But it’s just a lot, you know! We have all been together for so long…And I understand you and Abed, but Jeffrey! Can you at least tell me where are you going? Are you getting back to law?’

‘Hopefully, in time,’ Jeff shifted on his seat. ‘But,’ Jeff frowned at Annie, she could see how uncomfortable he was discussing this with dean, he already had enough of Britta’s opinion on the matter and now this and of course, sooner or later the entire school will be on it, just like when Garrett got married. And then there was Frankie, who was never too subtle about how she felt about Annie and Jeff situation, even though she didn’t know the whole story. Before Jeff could give any real answer, Frankie stormed in the dean’s office bringing the files Annie was waiting for. She noticed the now openly sobbing dean, Annie’s wild eyes and Jeff’s slightly disgusted face.

‘I was out for ten minutes, what did I miss?’ asked Frankie carefully.

‘Oh, nothing much, just dean being a big baby, like always,’ answered Jeff rolling his eyes.

‘I am not being a baby, thank you very much! Frankie, can you believe Jeff is quitting Greendale!’

‘Ah, I see,’ Frankie nodded realizing the magnitude of the catastrophe. She then looked at Annie’s pink face then back at Jeff who was deliberately avoiding her gaze, then at the papers in her hands and then back at Annie whose cheeks now were of crimson color. ‘Oh, I seeeee,’ she repeated gasping the whole situation.

‘What? What do you see, Frankie?’ cried dean, wiping his tears. 

‘Should I congratulate the two of you?’ she asked ignoring Craig.

‘Well,’ Annie began. ‘I guess, I mean it’s not that big a deal, it’s just…’

‘Not that big a deal?’ asked Jeff raising his eyebrows.

‘Jeeeeeff,’ Annie was gesturing towards the dean now, who looked as if someone slapped him on the face. ‘Of course, it’s a huge deal, but…’

‘All right, what is going on?’ asked dean suspiciously. 

‘I assume, the reason why Jeffrey is quitting now is to join miss Edison in Washington. Am I right?’

‘Right on point, as always, Frankie,’ grinned Jeff bitterly folding his arms. Annie closed her eyes waiting for dean’s reaction.

‘So, the two of you…’ dean waved at them and it reminded Annie the time during their Ass-Crack Bandit hunt when dean accused them of partnering up on purpose, well he wasn’t wrong. 

‘Aha,’ squealed Annie. 

‘Oh, I seeeeee…And how long that has been going on? I mean it was obvious to everybody from your study group to the janitors, that there was something between the two of you, but…’

‘I am sure that Jeff and Annie would prefer to keep their private life private, am I right?’ Frankie cut in, she glanced at Jeff disapprovingly but didn’t say anything on the matter. Annie was glad, she was already having a hard day and had no energy to explain the whole situation to anyone else and it wasn’t anybody’s business but hers and Jeff’s. ‘Here, Annie, I brought you the transfer form. Also, here is the recommendation letter you asked for. Jeff, I can craft one for you as well if you like. Can we count on you until we find your replacement? Or are you leaving tomorrow with Annie?’

‘No, no, I still have business here and of course, I will keep working for the time being. I just wanted to give you heads up, so it wouldn’t be a surprise when the time comes. As for the recommendation, yes, thank you, that would be very helpful.’ 

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

‘That was…something,’ Jeff was breathing heavily, while they were lying naked in bed. After meeting with dean and Frankie, Jeff and Annie came back to the apartment, she was painfully aware she was leaving tomorrow and wanted to spend as much time as possible making love to Jeff, happily, it seemed that he was completely on board with her plan. She was now pressed tightly to him, her elbow was on Jeff’s chest while she was watching his very satisfied face. His huge hand was set firmly on her butt and she hoped she could freeze this moment.

Sex with Jeff was even better then she imagined. He was strong and gorgeous and loving, he was so present that she didn’t really need to tell him what she liked, it was if he got into her mind, they were so in sync it made her toes curl. Annie planted a kiss to his shoulder and went to the shower. 

After she was done, Jeff was already out of bed, it was an early evening, so they decided to stay home and watch a movie. He was wearing nothing but sweatpants humming silently a vaguely familiar tune while cooking dinner for them. Annie leaned on the wall to watch him, hoping he won’t notice her for a minute or two. It’s been so long since she saw Jeff so relaxed and happy, he was positively glowing and she would be lying if it didn’t flatter her that the current source of his happiness was them and their future together. She wondered what it would be like when they actually move in together, of course there will be an adjustment period, maybe even a few fights over who takes which side of the bed. But when she was looking at him now, with his dancing eyes and wild hair, and yes, those abs, she knew they will be all right. 

He finally noticed her and grinned wildly. Yes, he did bring chaos in her life again and again, and yes, sometimes it made things more complicated then, they necessarily should be, but she’d be damned if she missed any of it. 

‘Admiring the view, are we?’ 

‘A little,’ she smiled, got closer and kissed him gently on the lips. ‘I was just thinking that I certainly can get used to this.’

‘I should hope so,’ Jeff turned off the oven and put the food on their plates. ‘Otherwise, us moving in together is going to be really awkward.’

They moved to the couch where Annie was now scrolling through Jeff’s Netflix. Jeez, he did have a mild obsession with Chris Pratt. She found a comedy that Abed once recommended to watch and put it on. 

‘The talk with dean went better than I expected,’ said Annie finishing her food which was surprisingly good given it had zero carbs in it, she really needs to talk to Jeff about it sometime. 

‘Yeah, I expected him at least to throw a tantrum, thank God, Frankie was there.’

‘Yeah, she does have that cooling effect.’

‘She thinks us is a bad idea, doesn’t she?’ asked Jeff putting down his plate. ‘She didn’t say anything, but I guess she always saw you as her protegee and it was clear from that wedding video she was not a fan of us being involved.’

‘Abed showed you that too?’ she remembered when Abed asked her to help him montage Garrett’s wedding and accidently on purpose showed her the part where Frankie talked about how Annie should get away from Jeff.

‘Yeah, I think he did it on purpose,’ Jeff mirroring her thoughts on the matter. ‘not sure what he was shooting for though,’ Jeff pouted a little. ‘It’s not like I don’t know already that you deserve better.’

‘Jeff, please, stop doing that,’ Annie took his hand, trying to make him understand. 

‘What?’

‘Putting yourself down and obsessing about what others might think about us! Who cares? Yes, Frankie is smart and I respect her but she doesn’t know everything, she doesn’t know us, she wasn’t there from the beginning. As for Abed, only Abed knows what is going on in his head and why he does things he does. The point is, I love you,’ she was on his lap now looking straight into his eyes. ‘And I don’t care about anyone’s opinion on whether or not we are right for each other. I believe we are, and correct if I am wrong, but I had an impression you felt the same way.’

‘Of course,’ his hands were now on her waist. ‘Us is the only thing to me that makes sense now. I guess I am just so used to focus on the reasons why we shouldn’t be together that now that we are…’

Annie took a deep breath. She knew he restrained himself about them for many reasons, most of which she found ridiculous, but there was one thing that mattered to Jeff the most and she wanted to address it sooner rather than later.

‘Jeff, we need to settle this once and for all. You need to understand, that the only person who had a real problem with our age difference was you. Remember, even back at our second year? Rich?’

‘How can I forget,’ Jeff chuckled, rolling his eyes. 

‘He was your age and I didn’t care about that, when I asked everybody in our group, remember their reaction?’ 

‘Yeah, that was weird, I must admit. But, Annie, he did turn you down when you asked him out, didn’t he? Basing on the fact that you were nineteen?’

Annie hesitated a little and then decided to tell him her little secret which she was really hoping to keep to herself. But now that they were together it wasn’t that big of a deal, she hoped.

‘Weeeeell, that’s not technically true,’ she bit her lip waiting for Jeff’s reaction.

‘What do you mean?’ she felt him tensing up.

‘I never, really had a chance to ask him out, because…Well, after you and I talked in the men’s room, Rich kind of asked me out first.’

‘What?! But Abed…’

‘Yes, I texted Abed telling him that Rich turned me down because I didn’t want to make things awkward. Come on, Jeff, the guy joined Anthropology class because of me and busted his ass to join our study group! He basically did exactly what you did when you had hots for Britta!’

‘But,’ Jeff looked absolutely stunned. ‘What happened then? He asked you out and then what? Your date went wrong or something? Please, don’t tell me you and him have been seeing each other in secret.’

‘Ew, Jeff, of course not, don’t be gross! This kind of thing is not for me!’

‘I know!’

‘When he asked me out, I thought about it and then said no. I guess, deep down I knew that the only reason why I was interested in him, because he was a more accessible, lighter version of you.’

‘Yeah?’ Jeff smiled at her shyly, God, he was so cute when he was this open with her. 

‘Uh-hu,’ Annie nodded vigorously. ‘So, all the age crap was always in your head only. I certainly never had a problem with that!’

‘Really?’ he looked at her skeptically. ‘I seem to recall that time, you told your girlfriends that I was your uncle?’

‘OK, I did tell that,’ she admitted giving him a sheepish grin. ‘But the only reason why I said it was because they were certain you and I were a thing and whenever I tried to tell them that we were just friends they would bug me why on earth would I be just friends, and please keep your ego down, with someone who looked like you!’

‘You know, maybe talking things over is not so horrible,’ he smiled at her genuinely and her heart melted once again, she could never resist this man. ‘And you are right, about everything, it’s probably more of my personal issues than anything else, I just…I promise, I will work on it.’

‘Good,’ she smiled at he pulled her into a kiss. 

‘Did you tell your family about us?’ Jeff asked carefully, seeing Annie’s expression he added quickly. ‘I know you wanted to call them, that’s why I am asking.’ 

Annie’s face fell a little and she got herself free from Jeff’s embrace.

‘Sorry, it’s just…’ she noticed a pinch of panic and his voice. She wasn’t mad at him for asking, it was actually nice that he wanted her family to know. But he wasn’t the only one with family issues.

‘I talked to Anthony yesterday, told him about internship and about you,’ she bit her lip, not sure how much she actually wanted to tell him, given how insecure he was about other people opinions on them. She decided on the truth, she didn’t have it in her to lie to him. ‘He was actually quite supportive, but you know how he is, he told mom everything before I got the chance.’

‘I take it she didn’t take the news very well,’ Jeff took her hand in his.

‘Yeah, that’s one way of putting it. She called me this morning and, well, she basically told me that I was a fool throwing away my life like that, you know she was really upset me using grandmother’s fund. Not that I care, since I can use it however I like ever since I turned twenty-one. Well, she said a lot of things about you, even though she never even met you! About me being irresponsible…’

‘You being irresponsible? Did she meet you?’

Annie smiled sadly and put her hand on Jeff’s shoulder. He immediately planted a light kiss on it.

‘I guess she was more upset about the money, than anything else. She also mentioned that she was surprised I actually got into FBI, since I had issues in high-school. And that she was sure I am gonna fail there so I should keep the money intact. Then, when she learned that you are little older…’

‘Here it comes,’ sighed Jeff heavily.

‘She said, you would make me your trophy wife and when I turn thirty you will exchange me for a newer model, I couldn’t take it anymore, so I hang up on her and I am sure we won’t talk again for a very long time.’

‘Trophy wife?’ was all Jeff said and then he was laughing. And it wasn’t the sarcastic kind of laughter or angry, he was genuinely nickering. Annie looked at him as if he lost his mind. ‘And here I was hoping to become your trophy husband!’ 

Jeff noticed Annie’s frown and composed himself and, his voice became much deeper and serious. 

‘I am sorry, I know it’s important and your mother is a piece of work, it’s just…Wow, listen to me Annie,’ he put his hand on her neck. ‘You are the most intelligent, driven, kind and wonderful woman I have ever met. Your mother, I know it hurts she thinks that way, but she can’t define you. Believe me, I know all about it, you know how badly my father effected my life and I want to make sure you don’t repeat my mistakes. I have never met your mother and now I have no wish to do so, unless you want it to happen someday,’ he kissed her quickly and went on. ‘I love you and your friends love you. And people in FBI will love you for all things I said earlier and for your pathological organizational skills, I might add, for me it’s a quirk that I learned to love…’

‘Jeff!’ she smacked his chest but couldn’t stop herself from smiling. Only Jeff could make her feel so good about such a crappy incident.

‘Sorry, got off the track again. I am just saying, I can’t change your mother’s mind. But what I can do is support you and be there for you and when you become a president, you have to promise to buy me a new car and not to exchange me for a newer model. Which, considering our situation is a far more plausible perspective.’

‘Jeff, I am not going to become a president,’ she rolled her eyes affectionately, he was such a goof and his belief in her abilities was intoxicating sometimes. 

‘Maybe not, maybe yes, but you will be amazing out there, that I know for sure.’


	8. Day 7. Friday.

The going away party for Abed and Annie was over. Jeff was outside Britta’s bar waiting for them next to his car. It was a little chilly outside and Jeff shivered a little, he wasn’t sure it was entirely weather’s fault. 

Annie went to the lady’s room alongside with Britta and he knew she just wanted to say goodbye, maybe to cry a little so that nobody could see it. Abed needed to call his dad confirming that he was fine and that Jeff will drop him off at the airport. Frankie, Dean and Chang, alongside with Britta promised to wait for Jeff to come back from the airport for another round of drinks.

Jeff knew it was only temporarily, that he will see Annie soon enough, but he still felt empty somehow. Even though he knew that it was for the best, this day had some finality in it, the end of era. He was really looking forward to his new beginning with Annie in DC, but he was also mourning the life they all had here. 

Abed showed up first, he was just as calm and quiet as always, wearing the same half-smile Jeff saw millions of times. It hit Jeff now, how much he is going to miss Abed in his life. 

The last week his sole focus was on Annie, but his friendship with Abed was very important to him, in a different way, of course. And now he was leaving and unlike Annie, Jeff is not going to see him in a few weeks. He didn’t know if he was ever going to see him again. He knew that Abed was going off to a better future, to new prospects and challenges, but Jeff couldn’t help but worry how Abed is going to handle this new life in LA on his own. They did receive encouraging news that Troy is coming back soon from his world voyage and Jeff new that wherever Abed is, Troy will follow him, their friendship was something out of this world. 

‘Hey, are you all set and ready?’ asked Jeff.

‘Yep, ticket is ready, backpack is on the back,’ Abed turned around showing Jeff how he prepared he was and Jeff couldn’t help but grin. ‘Where is Annie?’

‘I think she is still saying good-bye to Britta,’ shrugged Jeff.

‘Cool, cool, cool. Did you check your trunk? Nobody took our suitcases?’

‘Of course, I have, Abed,’ Jeff rolled his eyes. Only Abed would think that someone would be more interested in stealing bags instead of well, the car.

‘Cool, by the way I never got the chance to congratulate you. Not only about you and Annie, but on your decision to leave Greendale. I think it’s very brave and mature of you.’

‘Thank you,’ Jeff both a little flattered and surprised by Abed’s words.

‘By the way, I always knew that you and Annie were destined for each other, if you believe in such things. Which I do. Just like all of us were destined to meet at Greendale. True love always wins in the movies, despite the misunderstandings, obstacles and challenges.’

‘We are not in the movie, though,’ reminded Jeff gently.

‘I know, but it still wins, I was just worried that you might miss your chance, it took you unprecedentedly long time.’

‘Well, you know me, all that emotional vulnerability crap is not my strongest suit.’

‘True. When I am in LA, I am planning to write a script about us, all of us in Greendale. Would you mind if I include your epic romance in it?’

‘Let’s talk about it when you become a big ass producer, shall we?’ Jeff desperately wanted to change the subject. Talking about things like feelings and love with Annie was bad enough and he was not going to extend that privilege to anybody else. As for the script part, if Abed will indeed become a big Hollywood producer, Jeff would never give his permission to include anything about himself or his relationship with Annie. He just didn’t want to tell him that on his last day home.

‘There she is!’ Jeff noticed Annie coming, her eyes were a little red, it was clear that she was crying. ‘Are you all right?’

‘Yeah, it’s just I was saying goodbye to Britta, and then Frankie and everyone and it hit me, you know! I am leaving! And Abed is leaving. I guess, I was too busy these seven days to really process it.’

‘Well, no question here, this week was a lot. But it’s all going to be fine, you know?’

‘Yes, Annie, aren’t you happy that you and Jeff finally resolved the sexual tension?’

‘Abed!’ Annie and Jeff exclaimed in unison. 

‘I was just trying to lighten the mood. Today is a very emotional day for me too.’

‘Clearly. All right you two, just get in the car, we are leaving,’ Jeff opened the front door for Annie. Abed was settled comfortably in the back, Jeff, of course, was driving. He started the engine and the three of them left Britta’s bar behind. 

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

They arrived at the airport, it was huge and people were just everywhere. Jeff didn’t like goodbyes and he hoped he wouldn’t do something stupid like break into tears in front of all the strangers. Jeff parked his Lexus and helped his passengers to get their suitcases. He gave a quick kiss to Annie, hugging her tightly, mentally thanking the deity in question that he had the courage to take his chances with her. He couldn’t imagine what he would have done now if things remained the same as before, he would probably crush her into a hug and never let go and have a minor mental break down right there and be damned all those strangers. 

But now, that everything was settled between them, he was just looking forward to see her in three weeks when he will come for a visit to DC, his ticket was purchased, plans arranged and his heart was safe. Of course, he will miss her, but there are things like texting and video calls and this goodbye was just for a little while, until both of them are in the same place to share their lives.

First, Jeff gave a quick hug to Abed as well, but then he looked at this young man who became a brother to him and couldn’t help himself, he embraced him tightly. Abed promised him that they will always be affecting each other storylines, if not by participating, but at least by staying in each other’s memories and Jeff believed him.


	9. Leaving The Nest

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Part 2: Lead Me Home

Annie: Hey, I am in DC, just landed.

Jeff: glad u’r ok

Annie: *hearemoji*

Jeff: *eyerollemoji*

Annie: Don’t be mean! I know you love me.

Jeff: i do, but still *eyerollemoji*  
Jeff: call me when u get to the apartment.

Annie: I will *kissyemoji*

Jeff rolled his eyes, but couldn’t help smirking. Not that he wasn’t expecting it, of course now that they are dating, Annie will unleash on him the world of hearts and vanilla texting. Not that he minded, but he was definitely not going to encourage it, he was still Jeff Winger, not Zac Efron in one of Annie’s ridiculous movies.

He arrived at the bar a couple of hours after dropping off Annie and Abed at the airport, the remaining gang was all there wondering what it will be like when the semester starts. Jeff was sincerely hoping that by that time he will be able to leave Greendale, but this was a little bit of a challenge. Annie will be in Washington for ten weeks and she will probably be way too busy to house hunt and complete their “moving in together” plan. So, in order not fall out completely, Jeff agreed to teach a few classes at summer school. Frankie and dean were thrilled, it would give them time to focus on finding the suitable replacement. Jeff, as much as he resented the idea of working during summer, was satisfied with this situation, he could use some extra money, especially now and being at Greendale regularly will definitely motivate him to prepare and, eventually, get the BAR he needed to go back to law in DC.

‘Who are you texting? Is it Annie?’ asked Britta looking over his shoulder. He turned off his screen quickly. He really didn’t want to share with anybody a newfound relationshippy side of him, especially not her. He was still mad at Britta for all the comments she made when he and Annie got together.

‘Yes,’ he answered avoiding looking at his no-personal- boundaries friend. ‘Said she landed safely. I need to go home, we agreed to skype once she is at apartment.’

‘Hah, so that’s what is going to be like while you here? You ditching us any time Annie calls?’ snorted Britta, Jeff looked at her not even bothering to hide his annoyance.

‘Yes. Is there anything else you want to add?’

‘What? No, I didn’t mean to…’

‘I am getting a little tired of your opinion on the matter. We get it, you don’t approve!’

‘No, Jeff, wait…’ he stood up and looked at his friends who didn’t dare to interrupt the scene.

‘I’ll see you guys on Monday.’

‘See yahh!’ waved Frankie and dean, Chang was now banging the jukebox with his foot and ignoring anything that was happening.

Jeff was already at the parking lot when he heard a rigid breathing behind him, he turned around and saw Britta’s concerned face.

‘Is there anything else you wanted to say to me, Britta?’

‘Why are you like this?’

‘Oh, I don’t know, maybe because you’ve been crapping on the best thing that ever happened to me?! Or maybe your nice comment from the other day, when you, of all people, should have known how hard all this for me? That the age thing was a huge issue for me and Annie all these years? Is it you being jealous or something? If so, I need to know now, because I don’t see us being friends if there is something going with you!’

‘You are such a jerk!’ squinted Britta, Jeff turned around and was about to get in his car. ‘Hey, wait! Listen, I am sorry, OK? I am sorry about being insensitive or whatever and I certainly didn’t want to spoil things for you or Annie, I was just a little mad and confused I guess, but I got over it, I promise. Back in the bar now, I was just joking, I swear!’

‘Why were you mad?’ Jeff asked pouting a little.

‘It’s my things, don’t worry about it, and besides Annie and I talked and we are fine, we are all fine, I promise! It’s not about you and Annie really, it’s more about me and all the change that is going on.’

He could understand that, hell he had a first-hand experience of dealing poorly with changes, last time it resulted them getting engaged and him almost losing everything he truly cared for.

‘I get it,’ he nodded slightly. ‘Hey, I am sorry too, for lashing out, I was just…’

‘An ass?’ she smiled at him and Jeff grinned back.

‘Yes, old habits die hard.’

‘I am really happy for you, you know that, right? And I am very proud that you finally managed to get over yourself and clean the vacuum with Annie. It’s been killing all of us way too long.’

‘Clean the vacuum? What that even mean?’ Britta rolled her eyes in annoyance and Jeff gave up the idea to tease her absolute lack of knowledge on basic expressions, but he was happy they got back to normal. ‘Thank you. But I really need to go now, you know how Annie with time management.’

‘Yeah, yeah, you should go. Don’t want to get your *girlfriend* upset, do you?’

‘Aghh, you are still the worst. See yah!’

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

‘Can you see me now?’

‘Nope, still nothing.’

Jeff pressed a few buttons on his phone.

‘And now?’ camera flicked and Jeff saw Annie’s tired but happy face, his lips broke into a grin. ‘How was your flight?’

‘Mehh, it was OK, a little cramped, you should have seen the Dulles International Airport, it’s huge! I was so confused by all the exists that nearly missed my cab!’

‘Well, hopefully, I will see it in three weeks, if you don’t change your mind and I will not get into the air crash,’ he smirked jokingly.

‘Jeff! That is not a thing to joke about! And besides, plane is the safest way for travelling, statistically speaking…’

‘Please, I am begging you, let’s not talk about statistics!’

Annie rolled her eyes and laughed at his grumpy face. She pulled up her long dark hair and Jeff noticed that she wasn’t wearing a bra, well that turned quickly.

‘OK, fine, how you’ve been doing?’

‘Well, Annie, we haven’t seen each other in four hours, so nothing changed that much,’ he was sure Annie would have smacked him if she could, he changed his mocking voice to normal one. ‘It’s fine really, I went to Britta’s bar, me and her talked and sorted things out.’

‘Yeah, she told me she wanted to talk to you,’ nodded Annie slightly concerned.

‘We are all good, don’t worry. So how is DC so far?’

‘Jeff, I literally saw just the airport and some buildings on my way here. I will go sight-seeing tomorrow. My roommate seems nice though, although we did talk like five minutes only. Do you think I should ask her to join me tomorrow? Or is it too pushy? I just really want us to get along you know.’

‘Yeah, I think you can ask her, I mean, you two are going to spend a lot of time living and working together, and if our study group taught us anything it’s that spending time doing dumb stuff unites better than anything. Do you like the apartment by the way?’

‘Ehh, it’s a bit too corporate, no life in it, but I think I will buy some decoration at least for my room, I know it’s only temporary, but still.’

‘Yeah, I remember how you stormed into my place a few years ago and made it your art project,’ Jeff grinned to his memory, Annie being all bossy and domestic at his place, considering it didn’t bother him one bit even then, he should have known what was going on with him, well he did, kind of.

‘I know you loved it! I saw that you kept the pillows!’

‘I just didn’t want to hurt your feelings!’

‘Haha, nice try, now I know for sure how are you really!’

‘Are you going to use it against me from now on?’

Annie squinted her blue eyes a little and then giggled.

‘Occasionally, but only for good. I promise I will never use my superpower for evil.’

‘Superpower? You know, sometimes, I think that your time with Abed turned you into even bigger nerd than you originally were.’

‘Very funny, Jeff,’ she looked annoyed for a second and then her features softened. She laid her head on the pillow, her face was relaxed and a little sleepy, Jeff glanced at time it was 11 p.m, meaning it was one in the morning in DC, they should really wrap up the conversation.

‘Is it crazy that I already miss you?’ she asked him quietly.

‘Who would have thought that you would make such a clingy girlfriend?’ he teased and could swear that if Annie’s eyes could kill, he would be dead this instant. He softened his voice and said sincerely. ‘Same here, I miss you too,’ he sighed. Jeff wanted so badly to be there besides her, to touch her, to kiss her. Synergy, damn it, or as Frankie would put it, codependence. Good or bad, it was definitely there.

‘But we’ll see each other in three weeks, right? It’s not that long.’

‘No, it’s not, but I still miss you,’ she smiled at his words and then yawned a little. ‘You should really get some sleep if you are planning to go out tomorrow. When is your pre-orientation?’

‘It’s Sunday afternoon, but it’s only going to be for a couple of hours. I guess they just want us to meet each other and stuff like that. Call me tomorrow?’

‘Sure.’

‘I’ll send you all the pictures I’ll take!’

‘I have no doubt about that,’ he grinned enjoying Annie’s enthusiasm. He was so proud of her.

‘By the way, I know you are not that kind of guy, so please don’t get mad and if you want to, I will delete it, I promise!’ Annie’s voice was slightly nervous and she was biting her lower lip.

‘What is it?’

‘I kind of posted the picture on the Instagram of the two of us?’ she said carefully, clearly not sure how he will react to such a sentimental thing. ‘The couple kind? The one that Abed took at the bar today where you and me were hugging.’

‘Annie, it’s fine don’t worry about it,’ he was a little amused she would worry so much about such a silly thing. True, he wasn’t a fan of promoting his personal life in social media, and to be completely honest, he didn’t like posting pictures of himself anywhere, but he knew how Annie was. He wanted to make it perfectly clear that he was totally cool with it. ‘If anything, it will be a signal for all your cool FBI colleagues that there is somebody in your life.’

‘So you are fine with it?’

‘Absolutely, you really should get some sleep.’

‘Yeah, good night. I love you.’

‘Love you too,’ when Annie disappeared from his screen, Jeff decided to see the picture Annie was talking about, he found it immediately, it was the last one in her profile and, of course, had a heart under it. The two of them, Annie in her travelling clothes, with her long hair and no makeup and him in black sweater and with a stubble. His hand was wrapped securely around her shoulder and hers was around his waist, both of them had identical giddy smiles on their faces. It was a nice picture, the first one of them being, well “them”. He took a snapshot of it and decided that maybe it wasn’t such a bad idea to post it too, like he said to Annie at this date and age it will be a signal that there is somebody in her life and he wanted to make sure that everybody knew she was in his. He didn’t add any hashtags or anything, just one word “annie”.


	10. Capitol

Annie fell in love with Washington! It was a huge, busy city filled with opportunities and diversity in pretty much everything, she enjoyed the broad streets, the fact that she can go see the White House anytime she wanted, she enjoyed being surrounded by young and ambitious people of her age. When she first saw Washington FBI field office her jaw dropped. It was enormous! Whole Greendale could have fit in on just one floor. She was, however, worried a little, because most of the people around her came from all these big institutions, like Yale or Harvard and she felt a strong urge to prove them all that Greendale was just as good. Well, maybe not so much good, but adequate enough for people to succeed after it.

Yesterday, she and Tracy, her roommate, spent the entire day exploring the city, Annie didn’t want to go everywhere she planned, because she was saving something for when Jeff is going to visit her, but they did go to see the Capitol, The Lincoln Memorial and National Mall and Veterans Memorials. Annie was taking hundreds of pictures and sending them to Jeff non-stop, first, when she sent him the photo of the Capitol, he joked that she was house-hunting without him, but then after picture #71 he stopped responding to her messages, Annie knew that it was too much information for Jeff and wasn’t mad, but couldn’t stop herself. When they talked later that evening, Jeff laughed how Annie practically spammed his phone, he promised he looked at all of them but he just didn’t know what else to say.

Today, after pre-orientation was over, Annie decided to go for coffee in the park that wasn’t far from her apartment and call Jeff from there. She was really happy with how things were for now, tomorrow she will go to see Quantico Office and probably meet some of the legends from FBI. She made a thorough research and hoped to get a glimpse at some top-tier agents and teams, like BAU or JTTF. She and Tracy were getting along great so far and Annie hoped they will become good friends, it was always nice to have a friend nearby. Tracy was also very thorough and loved to be in control, she was the same age as Annie and of Latino decent. However, Tracy loved to party and clothes shopping a lot, which wasn’t necessarily Annie’s thing, but she didn’t mind as long as Tracy won’t make parties Britta style.

Thinking about Britta made Annie’s heart ache a little. She missed her old friends so much! She hasn’t talked to any of them yet, since she was really busy, only exchanged a few text messages in their *Greendale7Forever* text-chain. She wanted to call Abed and ask him how he was settling in, Jeff talked to him yesterday and said he was doing fine, but Annie wanted to make sure.

She bought her favorite coffee, low caffeine with chocolate sprinkles, and found a nice big tree with a lonely bench next to it. As soon as she settled, she texted Jeff if he was ready for their call. In a couple of minutes, instead of texting her back she saw a familiar number and pressed green button.

‘Hey, how is the hottest FBI agent doing today?’ he asked grinning from ear to ear.

‘I don’t know, I still haven’t met that guy from “Bones” yet,’ she giggled.

‘Very funny!’ Jeff rolled his eyes trying not to sound annoyed. ‘How was your meeting?’

‘It was simply amazing! I met so many people today, although they are very fancy, all valedictorian, with honors, most of them came from places like Yale or MIT, but most of them seem nice enough, I hope. I am a little worried I get lost in the crowd, because I have to tell you their scores are just wow! And the FBI office, you should have seen it! I am totally making you visit it when you come to DC.’

‘OK, I ignored the jibber-jabber about fancy schools, but, Annie, you will kick their pompous asses, I know that, Greendale or not.’

‘Thanks,’ she smiled gently at him. ‘By the way, the funniest thing happened today!’

‘What?’

‘Our supervisor, who is awesome, by the way, is this special agent from Quantico, her name is Emily Prentiss and she looks almost exactly like our Frankie! I mean it, for a second there I was sure it was her, the resemblance is uncanny!’

‘I’ve always suspected that Frankie leads a double life,’ Jeff joked, mostly.

‘I know! But enough about me, how you have been doing there? Ready for classes tomorrow?’

‘Why would you remind me about that?’ he frowned at her and Annie giggled at his grumpy face. ‘It’s fine, I spent most of the day at the gym today and I do need to read a few things for BAR.’

‘Oh, how is that going?’

‘Good, slow. But you know I’ve been actually busy with it only for two days, so we’ll see.’

‘I am sure you got it as long as you try a little.’

‘Yeah, yeah, your blind trust in my abilities is very flattering, not that anybody doubts that I am the genius here.’

‘Jeff!’ Annie rolled her eyes, he could be so obnoxious sometimes.

‘Whatever, do you have any plans for tonight?’ Jeff asked his eyes were glimmering mischievously.

‘Not really,’ she answered slowly. ‘I need to be at Quantico tomorrow at 8:00 a.m, so I was planning just to watch some TV-show and maybe talk to Abed and then, well, sleep. Why?’

‘Well, you know, you didn’t leave me the naked picture like I asked you and you did mention something about how it’s 21st century and there are things like texts and video calls.’

‘You are unbelievable! We’ve had sex two days ago!’ she was trying to be mad, but he was simply adorable and sexy at the same time and she did mention something like that before leaving for DC.

‘So, do I get my sexy call or the picture or what?’ he asked with smirk, clearly not letting go of the subject.

‘Fine, I’ll see what I can do.’

‘That’s more like it!’ Jeff grinned happily, clearly satisfied with his little victory, they chatted a few more minutes before Annie went to home to send that man his damn picture.


	11. Towels and Girls

It’s been three weeks since he saw Annie last time, in real life, of course they were calling each other constantly and texting non-stop but that wasn’t the same. His flight arrived late Friday evening and he was leaving very early on Monday morning, so he and Annie would have two full days together. Jeff knew that Annie’s roommate will be at home too, but, apparently, she was some wild party girl, so she promised that will be out until Saturday morning or maybe, Jeff was hoping for it, even longer.

He exited the gate and looked around him, Annie wasn’t kidding the airport was impressive. For somebody who never been outside of Colorado, everything was a little alien to Jeff, he didn’t feel excitement though, more of an annoyance. Was it because of his age or general dislike for change he wondered? Annie was supposed to meet him after her shift, so when he didn’t see her around his first thought was that she must have been stuck at work, he checked his phone but didn’t see any messages, it was weird, that wasn’t like Annie, she was never late and if something was keeping her busy, she would have told him. What if something happened? What is she was injured or something like that? Jeff remembered the panic he felt when Annie was hurt during the frisbee incident and he knew it was his fault back then, when he saw her on the medical table, he thought he was just going to break there. Before he could think of what to do next, he heard a familiar voice calling his name.

‘Jeff, Jeeeeff!’ when he turned around, he saw Annie running towards him, she was wearing her smart suit and black heels, her hair was long and shiny and on her collar, she had her FBI Intern badge. His heart melted, she finally reached him and before she knew it, Jeff lifted her up for a messy kiss. He wasn’t planning on it, in fact he hoped not to show how much exactly he missed her, but she was all excited and her cheeks were all rosy, so he couldn’t help himself. When he let her go, she looked at him with her blue, shining eyes, smiling widely.

‘You are late,’ he said.

‘I know, I am so sorry, but the bus got stuck in a traffic and my phone died I couldn’t even text you!’

‘I was just kidding, Annie,’ he said wrapping her shoulders with his long arm as they went for the exit. ‘You were like five minutes late.’

‘Still, it’s not my style! Listen, I know you just got here but I am starving! Today was crazy, I didn’t even have time to have lunch, let’s stop by somewhere before going to the apartment.’

‘Sure,’ whatever you want, he thought to himself, he would agree to ice-skating right now if that was on her mind.

Annie and Jeff had a lovely dinner not far from the park Annie grew to like in the last three weeks, Jeff had to admit that even though Washington was completely different from Denver, let alone Greendale, it was, unsurprisingly, very impressive. He was still unsure what it will be like when he moves here, but to be fair he hasn’t been anywhere apart from the airport and the street two blocks away from Annie’s place.

When Annie opened the door and turn on the lights Jeff’s first impression that he already been here before, but when he looked around, he realized that this place was just very similar to places he used to live in, even his current place. Annie was right, it wasn’t homey at all, but until recently he never wanted to have an actual home, just a place to sleep at, at least back at his place he had Annie’s cushions all over. Annie took his hand and lead him to the door, he was sure was her bedroom and felt a familiar fire he always felt round her, but instead behind the door he saw a shower. He smirked at Annie’s idea and was now taking off his shirt slowly, while she freed herself from her suit and was standing there in her black underwear, he picked her up and kissed her deeply while she was busy with taking off her bra, as soon as he put her down, Annie turned on the shower and got into the bathtub, she wiggled her fingers inviting him to join her to which he happily obliged.

Annie was still in the shower when Jeff went to a small, grey living room. He was wearing nothing but a towel around his hips and a self-satisfied grin. When he opened the tap to get some water the front door opened and a cute, young girl burst in, she was wearing a short green dress, a black leather jacket and high heels. As soon as she saw Jeff her dark eyes and mouth went wide open. She was clearly not expecting to see a six feet tall, wet and almost completely naked man in her kitchen.

Jeff wasn’t particularly bothered that a stranger saw him practically naked, he was proud of his body and loved showing it off, hell once upon a time he stripped naked completely in front of the entire school just to prove a point and how many times he took his shirt off accidently on purpose to impress Annie? He lost the count, he remembered how flustered she always looked whenever he was teasing her like that and it always turned him on a little. But this situation was comical and Jeff wondered how it will play out.

‘Not that I am complaining, but it’s a little early for Christmas gifts, isn’t it?’ the girl broke the silence first.

‘You must be Tracy,’ he said calmly clearly unaffected by the ridiculous pickup line.

‘Oh, oh! You must be Jeff! I am sorry, I just didn’t expect you…’ she didn’t finish her sentence when Annie entered the room wearing her sleeping T-shirt and shorts.

‘Tracy? I thought you were out,’ Annie looked with a confusion at her roommate who was still ogling Jeff.

‘I was,’ said Tracy finally shifting her attention to Annie. ‘But I need to change my shoes, these are killing me. And we are going dancing!’

‘I told you, you shouldn’t have worn a new pair,’ she looked at Jeff who was still in the towel. ‘Oh, sorry, Jeff, this is Tracy my roommate, as I am sure you already guessed. Tracy, this is Jeff, my…boyfriend.’

‘Yeah, I gathered that,’ said Tracy. ‘Annie, can I have a word with you, you know about the shoes I should put on?’

Jeff smirked and Annie gave him a look, he saw thousands of times before, when she was unimpressed with his smugness. Well, he couldn’t help himself, it was flattering that he still had this effect on women.

‘OH MY GOD!’ Tracy whisper-yelled at Annie as soon as she closed the door behind them. ‘I get it why you keep talking to him everyday and was all excited and clearly turned on when telling me about him!’

‘Shhh, Tracy!’ Annie was sure that Jeff could hear them, God, she was so going to smack his smugness out tonight. ‘You don’t need to feed Jeff’s ego, trust me, it’s already big as it is.’

‘I wonder else is big under that towel,’ Tracy giggled.

‘Tracy!’

‘Oh, come on, I am just messing with you! Jezz, if any of the students or professors, for that matter, looked like your Jeff in my college, I am not sure I would be able to graduate. I would be all over him.’

‘Tracy, please!’ Annie rolled her eyes at her friend. She liked Tracy, but she was sometimes too inappropriate.

‘Fine, fine, I will keep my fantasies to myself, will you help me with the shoes, now that you are here,’ Tracy opened her closet.

When Tracy disappeared again into the night. Jeff came out of Annie’s room wearing his sleeping pants, Annie was sure he heard at least part of their conversation, because his already smug face was positively gloating now.

‘Stop that!’ she snapped at him.

‘Stop what?’ he tried to look innocent but failed, playing an innocent one, that was Annie’s thing, Jeff could never pull that off, not that he never tried.

‘This grin on your face!’

‘So, I can’t smile now, can I?’

God, he was insufferable.

‘Jeff!’

‘What, I can’t help being awesome and hot, and it’s nice that people in Washington think so too!’

‘Like you didn’t know that already,’ Annie rolled her eyes and settled on the yellowish couch.

‘Sure, I did, but still…’ he joined her and kissed her hip, he moved her a little and nestled between her legs, his head was on her chest now and he looked her right in the eyes changing to his only-for-Annie voice. ‘You know you have nothing to worry about, right?’

‘Yes, of course, I know that,’ whatever happens, she knew for sure that Jeff would never hurt her like that, he already promised her once that if they were married or together, she would never find him flirting with another woman, and that was before they became a couple.

‘Then what’s bothering you?’

‘It’s nothing,’ she tilted her head and bit her lower lip, he had this puppy look on him waiting for her to elaborate, she couldn’t help but kiss him on the nose. ‘It’s just sometimes, I feel a little insecure, you are older…’

‘Thank you for reminding me.’

‘What I mean…Remember our study room conversation?’ she knew it was a stupid question given how that conversation changed their lives, she was pretty sure she will remember every word until the day she’ll die. But she needed to make her point.

‘Yeah, of course,’ Jeff’s body tensed a little.

‘Well, I meant what I said that day about being terrified of becoming a slave to…’

‘What’s in front of you, yes, I remember,’ she caressed his face with her fingers, he had the same look on him as when they made love for the first time or when he told her that he tried to let her go.

‘It’s just sometimes I am afraid I won’t be able to keep up with you, with your experiences and life in general and it’s not about jealousy, because I trust you with all my heart, but…it’s just I forget sometimes that even if you don’t say something, you feel and understand more, because well…’

‘You are younger?’

‘Yes, and even today, I feel so ashamed for getting mad at Tracy, because, yes, I trust you and I even kind of trust her, but I am quite bad at reading what people really think, so, you know. And even before, I was so mad at you for so long, for not telling me how you actually felt, because, well as bad as I am at reading things, I am not an imbecile and quite honest, you were never particular subtle…’

‘Hey! Not cool!’

‘What I am trying to say, that I understand now, I really do, why you kept your distance or whatever and not only because of the age difference, but because, you know, of everything. I just wonder what else will I miss and how long will it take me to really understand stuff, with all the nuances, like you do. And not just with us but generally?’

‘Listen, Annie,’ he entwined his fingers with hers. ‘All of this, us, it’s not always going to be as easy as it is now, there will be times where I will not be able to understand you or you won’t be able to understand me and I am not a huge expert on long-term relationships, but I do have some experience. And what I mean is that there is always something between people: age, religion, upbringing, eating habits, pretty much anything, that has a potential for a conflict or misunderstanding and it’s normal, the point is that in our case…I don’t know, but for some reason we have always been in sync, despite this gap between us. Call it whatever you want: compatibility, destiny, as Abed suggested, not me,’ he added quickly seeing Annie’s smirk, ‘or pure luck but it’s undeniable. Before I told you how I felt and especially after, I thought about it a lot and honestly, no matter how terrifying it is, I think that we are going to be fine, the important thing is and I hate myself for saying it out loud, is, well, to talk.’

‘I always knew that if you put some effort into it or pretty much anything else, you will be really good,’ she smiled leaning for a kiss which he avoided and grinned at her mischievously.

‘Honestly, I surprise myself,’ his tone changed into the smart-ass mode. ‘I am perfect in everything! See how lucky you are?’

‘Just shut up and kiss me or I will slap you.’

‘Mmm, slapping, I like where you goin…’ before he could finish his sentence Annie managed to grab his huge head and licked her way through into his mouth. He finally was focused on her tongue and lips instead of being the most lovable jerk she ever met.


	12. Texts and Gossips

Jeff: hey, how is it going?

Annie: Good, me, Tracy and some other girls from work are going out tonight. How bout u?

Jeff: am OK, tired from work. frankie makes me do extra classes, since i’m leaving soon *eyerollemoji*

Annie: Aww, poor baby! *heartemoji**kissemoji*

Jeff: and i am lonely and bored

Annie: I sent you my naked pic and we were sexting yesterday all evening.

Jeff: mmm, i remember, are u thinkin about it now? i know i am. *eggplant*

Annie: Gross! But only ‘cause I can’t think about it now. I am still at work. *kissemoji*

Jeff: *( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)* all I can think ‘bout is your boobs now, i miss them

Annie: Still not sure who u love more, me or my boobs! And stop distracting me!

Jeff: both, *winkemoji* right and left

Annie: *eyerollemoji*  
Annie: I saw one of the houses we looked up online, by the way, during my lunch break.

Jeff: and? was it good?

Annie: Yeah, but the price...:(  
Annie: Jeff, I don’t think we can afford it

Jeff: yeah, it’s pretty steep, but u know, loans

Annie: It’s still a bit risky given we are both kind of unstable with the job. But I guess, we can talk about it more when you come here for your interviews. How many do you have now?

Jeff: ok, yeah. 6 so far

Annie: 6? Wow, that’s amazing! *heartemoji*

Jeff: we’ll see. is tracy ok i will be staying so long?

Annie: She is not thrilled, but promised to not be a pain in the ass if you show her your abs once again *eyerollemoji**poutingface*

Jeff: i am willing to make that sacrifice *winkemoji*

Annie: *poutingface**poutingface**poutingface*

Jeff: u know she can look as much as she wants but u r the only one who can play there right?  
Jeff: that was an awful line, forget it  
Jeff: it’s true, though

Annie: *laughingemoji**laughingemoji*  
Annie: I love you *heartemoji* I need to go now. I’ll text you when I get back home.

Jeff: have fun

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

It’s been a little over a month since Annie started her internship and everything was going great, people at work were noticing her now. She was mostly working in Communications and she was absolutely loving it! Her direct boss, Agent Andrew Swann, was an older gentleman with plenty of field experience who has been working as a Chief Liaison for FBI for past ten years was now singling Annie out, she did help him with few cases and she did have some good ideas that might help Bureau, so maybe, no…she wasn’t going to think about it. If she will be offered some kind of a position, she, of course, would be thrilled, but for now she just needs to do her best.

And tonight, she and the girls from internship decided to go out, it was Friday night and they were young and free and Annie felt as if she was on the top of the world right now. She never felt like this in Greendale, here, her work, enthusiasm and driven desire to be the best was appreciated and encouraged, whereas back home…or was it even home now? She always felt a bit out of place, the only person who always supported her in everything was Jeff, he always believed in her more than anyone else, certainly more than her own family. She still wasn’t speaking with her mother after she insulted her and Jeff, Anthony called a couple of times promising to visit Annie at some point and that was enough for now. Her phone buzzed and she saw a message from Abed in their *Greendale7Forever* chat group.

Abed: look who paid a visit in LA  
Abed: *selfie of Abed and Troy hugging and grinning like crazy*

Britta: OMG! TROY! Welcome back!

Shirley: welcome home, my dear!:)

Troy: thanx guys! I missed u all so much! We need to catch up!

Annie: Troy!!! OMG! *heartemoji* we missed you too!

Jeff: welcome back, big guy!

Troy: hi Jeff! annie, our fave roommate! how is dc?

Annie: Good, good! We should totally facetime all together!

All of them: yeah!

Troy: when are u coming back Annie? i really missed all of you and it would be cool to meet all of us together.

Annie: I am not sure yet, but as soon as I know, I’ll text you the details!

Troy: cool, love u guys *heartemoji* facetime tomorrow?

Jeff: i’m in

Britta: me too

Abed: me three

Annie: Of course!

Shirley: ++++

Troy: wait a sec, abed says Jeff and Annie are together? ARE U FOR REAL?

Britta: they are, it’s disgustingly cute *vomitemoji*

Jeff: thanx a lot, britta *eyerollemoji*

Troy: AND I MISSED IT? WHEN DID THAT HAPPEN!

Annie: It’s a long story *winkemoji* we’ll fill you in tomorrow

Shirley: yes, you two also need to tell us all about your plans *weddingrings*

Troy: ARE YOU GETTING MARRIED TOO? * face_screaming_emoji*

Jeff: *facepalm* i’m out, see you all tomorrow

Troy: I NEED ANSWERS!

Annie giggled to herself and turned off her screen, Troy was back and she will see him soon enough!

‘Why are you so smiley? Did Jeff send you a naked pic? If so, as your friend, I am entitled to the show,’ asked Tracy curiously, they were already in the cab while the rest of the girls were already at the bar.

‘You know, your obsession with my boyfriend is slightly disturbing!’

‘Oh, come on, it’s not like that. Think of it as if I was enjoying the piece of art and besides, it took me three seconds to see that he is all yours.’

Annie rolled her eyes, but couldn’t help smirking. In the time they spent together, she learned that Tracy, being undoubtedly wild and lightheaded sometimes, was also loyal, kind and very generous. So she wasn’t really mad, but still Annie couldn’t help herself but feel possessive.

‘And besides, right now I am all about Danny, he is not as hot as your Jeff, but sweet enough.’

‘Yeah, I liked him, we should double-date some time.’

‘Hey, we are not there yet, I am still not sure how I feel about him. And going with you two, it’s like introducing your boyfriend to a married couple.’

‘So, he is your boyfriend?’ teased Annie.

‘Sort of, maybe…we’ll see,’ Tracy nudged Annie with her shoulder. ‘By the way, I totally forgot, Pete was sniffing around goods, if you know what I mean.’

‘Pete? Pete who?’

‘The tall brooding one? With dark hair? He asked me a few days ago if you were single.’

‘And what did you say?’

‘Well, the truth dahh, I didn’t go in all the details of your wet, half-naked boyfriend standing in nothing but a towel in our living room…’

‘Tracy, please promise me when Jeff will be staying with us, you won’t smother him?’ Annie rolled her eyes, honestly Tracy was worse than dean Pelton sometimes! ‘He already has this kind of person back home, it’s more than enough!’

‘Pinky swear! But seriously, Annie, you said you and Jeff were friends for six years before you slept together. How is it possible?’

‘Well, I was eighteen when we met and Jeff was thirty-four, so…you know.’

‘So what? It’s not like you were thirteen and it’s obviously that Jeff is all over you.’

‘Yeah, but…it was a bit more complicated than that, Jeff was different back then too.’

‘Different how?’

‘Well, for starters he had hots for another girl, which is a water under the bridge, but this is how we met, he started a study group to get into her pants.’

‘And did he succeed?’

‘Oh, yeah big time, but they never really dated, just had friends-with-benefits kind of thing for awhile.’

‘And then he realized that he was in love with you and…?’ Tracy looked up dreamingly and smiled to herself.

‘Not exactly, but yeah, we became really close, but there were other things. Like I said, complicated.’

‘Well, I still think it’s fucking romantic. He was looking for something else and found you. How awesome is it? It’s like a movie!’

Annie giggled immediately thinking what Abed would have said if he heard it.

‘Jeff was always a little…concerned with our age difference, this slowed things down a lot,’ Annie confessed after a little while. Not that it would change anything for her, but she was curious what an outsider might think on the matter.

‘You and Jeff are from some small place, right?’ asked Tracy getting uncharacteristically serious, her usually giddy eyes were now piercing though, Tracy had this ability to read people like they were an open book, she was hoping to become a profiler one day and Annie was sure this was her calling.

‘Yes, Greendale, Colorado, although Jeff lived in Denver for awhile. How did you know?’

‘It’s all the same there, I was born in a very small town in Arizona and lived there until I was sixteen, thank God my family moved to Phoenix, because I hated that place. Some people were really nice, of course, and there is this quiet and calm life there, but mostly…In small towns it’s hard to keep things private, everybody knows everything about everybody. And people generally don’t have anything else better to do than to gossip and get in things that doesn’t concern them. I assume, people around you were kind of judgemental and condescending about the whole thing?’

‘Some,’ admitted Annie thinking about Frankie and even Britta. And, of course, all the jokes at school they had to hear every time they were close to each other. ‘But as I said, it was a little more complicated than that.’

‘It’s all the same, doesn’t matter particularly what it is, age, sex or ethnicity, people will always find something to gossip about or judge things they have no right too. And in the small towns especially. This why I fucking love big cities! Nobody cares! You are free to do what you want, sleep with whoever you want, marry or stay single for the rest of your life and nobody gives a fuck, unless it’s something illegal, of course. Everybody is busy with their own lives. You two should have left that place a long time ago. I don’t know Jeff very well, obviously, but if he is with you than he is capable of something better than being stuck in place like…Greendale, you said?’

‘Yes, Greendale,’ Annie felt a huge wave of affection towards Tracy. It was nice hearing those things from a person who was far away from everything that Annie knew before.

‘Like you said, when you guys met you were 18 and now you are almost 25, so who gives a fuck? Look at Bruce Willis and his wife! They are gorgeous!’

‘That’s not totally fair, you are in love with Bruce Willis,’ laughed Annie remembering Tracy’s enormous collection of DVDs with him.

‘I am! And you are in love with Jeff, the only difference is that you can bang him whenever you like and if I want to get my hands on Mr. Willis, I would probably get arrested. And ta-da! Goodbye my FBI career! No guy is worth that, not even Bruce Willis.’

‘Thank you, Tracy,’ grinned Annie, they were almost at the bar.

‘You are welcome. Now let’s go shake our butts and get wasted! The night is young!’


	13. Six Seasons and a Zoom Call

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The video call between former study group. A special episode (chapter), in pure dialogue format.

Abed: Can you see us?

Annie: Yes! Oh My God, Troy your hair so long! I love it!

Troy: Thanx, Annie!

*Shirley joins the chatroom*

Troy, Abed, Annie: Hiiii!

Shirley: Hello, hello, my dears!

*Britta joins the chatroom*

Britta: Hey, you all! It’s like good old times!

Annie: Yeah! Awww, I missed us all together so much!

Abed: Where is Jeff?

Britta: He is probably fixing his hair or something.

*Jeff joins the chatroom*

Jeff: Hello, everybody!

Britta: You managed to be late for a video call, how very Winger of you.

Jeff: I am literally one minute late, relax, would you?

Annie: Yes, Jeff is getting much better with time management, so give him some credit.

Shirley and Troy: Awwww

Britta: Ewwwwhhh

Abed: I’ve always known that if Annie and Jeff will get together, they will be bringing out each other’s best sides.

Britta: How come you never was so supportive when me and Jeff were hooking up?

Shirley, Annie and Troy: Britta!

Abed: Well, quite obvious really, you and Jeff were like more toxic and annoying version of Ross and Rachel, pilot episode style. Whereas Jeff and Annie have always been like Chandler and Monica, an unexpectedly grounded and well-developed relationship based on perfect balance of virtues and flaws of a character, with a big wedding ahead of them and adoption of the twins to sweeten the deal.

Jeff: Can we talk about something else rather than our love life? Troy, you literally got back from the wide-world tour, how was that?  
Troy: Oh, dude, that was awesome! I wish I could talk to Pierce and thank him, he wasn’t always the best, but he did change my life! I visited every continent! LeVar and I became really good friends, he actually promised to help me and Abed with a script!

Annie: What script?

Abed: Troy and I are launching a project, we want to create a TV-show one day, and in our duo, I will be the creative one and Troy will be the all-business one.

Troy: Yeah, we can’t share details yet…

Abed: ...because, we don’t have them...

Troy: …not because, we are hiding that we want to include our Greendale stories!

Jeff: Very subtle.

Britta: But Troy, tell us more about your travels! Did you go to Guatemala? Did you participate in protests? Did you manage to overthrow a dictator in South Korea?

Jeff: Britta, the dictator is in North Korea and Troy was exploring the world, not sucking the life out of it.

Troy: I spent a lot of my time on a boat, so we mostly went sight-seeing whenever we felt like it. Did you guys know that there is an island in Pacific Ocean that has faces all over the place? Like it’s the tiny island, but everywhere you go there are huge statues of faces! I forgot what’s that called, Christmas Island or Hannukah Island…

Annie: It’s Easter Island, but that’s so awesome! You need to send me all the pictures!

Troy: I will! Wait, you are an FBI right now? What if your people will look into them and see something illegal? Will I get in trouble?

Annie: Did you do something illegal?

Troy: Not really, but from what I learned that every country has it laws, what if something I did in Turkey, for example, will be considered offensive here?

Jeff: What did you do in Turkey?

Abed and Troy: Nothing!

Troy: Let’s talk about Annie and Jeff for a minute here, you promised to fill me in!

Jeff: Guys, please!

Shirley: Oh, come on, Jeffrey! We are all curious, me and Troy weren’t there and we need details!

Britta: Shirley, I already told you everything.

Shirley: Yes, but you are the wild card, Britta, I need the real story.

Jeff: There is nothing to tell! Annie and I together, period. Let’s be all mature about it and move on to something else!

Troy: I need details! Who kissed who first? When is the wedding? Did you say the “L” word to each other?

Jeff: Unbelievable, six years later and the word “boundaries” still has no meaning in this group!

Annie: Troy, those questions are extremely personal!

Britta: Don’t worry, Troy, I was in a front row, I will tell you the details.

Jeff and Annie: Britta!

Britta: What? It’s not fair, we were all there from the very beginning of your sappy love story and we have the right to know!

Annie: I don’t think that’s how it works.

Jeff: Agreed!

Troy: Aww, you guys are so cute!

Jeff: Literally any other topic!

Annie: Oh, I finally managed to get my supervisor to review all the errors I found in the paperwork for the past three years!

Abed: Annie, even I know that this overcompensating.

Annie: It’s not overcompensating! I am just trying to fit in! You should have seen that place and other interns! They all got these fancy diplomas and awards, I need to go an extra mile for people to notice me!

Jeff: Annie, you are going ten extra miles and not just at work, you are putting so much stress on yourself, you are going to explode soon. Remember the crossword incident when I was visiting you?

Troy: Wait, you visited Annie in DC?

Britta: He sure did!

Troy: Did you guys bone?

Shirley, Jeff, Britta: Troy!

Abed: I am pretty sure they did it before, I didn’t feel the unresolved sexual tension between them when Jeff was dropping me and Annie at the airport. Just casual kiss and goodbye.

Annie: Eww, gross! To answer your question, Jeff, yes, I remember. And I won’t be judged for loving doing the crosswords! It’s not my fault they are doing it wrong!

Jeff: It’s one thing to love it and the other to throw a tantrum because you noticed a tiny mistake there. You literally yelled at New York Times crosswords!

Annie: Let me tell you something about those crosswords! They put wrong numbers of boxes in to house the correct word. This was the third mistake I found in one month! I even sent them an official complaint, but they completely ignored me!  
Jeff: See? Your pathological need for perfection will drive you insane and me alongside with you!

Shirley: I have some news too, by the way.

Britta: Do tell!

Shirley: My eldest son, Elijah, is about to become a father.

*awkward pause*

Jeff: Isn’t he like sixteen?

Shirley: He is nineteen.

Annie: Is he…Well, is this girl he…

Britta: ...knocked up…

Shirley: They are not married…yet! But we are working on it.

Britta: Shirley, you can’t make them getting married just because the girl got pregnant, there are always options!

Shirley: I won’t let my first grandchild to be born out of wedlock, if he is old enough to have sex without a condom, he is old enough to take on the consequences. And don’t even think about “A” word, otherwise I will strangle you in your sleep, you big hippie!

Abed: Clearly, it’s a very emotional situation for Shirley.

Jeff: Clearly.

Troy: What does Andre think about it?

Shirley: He thinks, we need to stay out of it and I told him if he won’t make his son to do the right thing, he will stay out of our bedroom for the rest of our lives.

*another long awkward pause*

Annie: OK, on a less awkward note. How are things in Greendale?

Jeff: Boring, depressing, crazy. The same, you know.

Britta: Oh, come on! I have some exciting news on Frankie department. She got a boyfriend!

Jeff: What, when did this happen?

Annie: We finally know what she is into!

Troy and Shirley: Who is Frankie?

Britta: It happened a couple of weeks ago and you would have noticed if you weren’t that busy with impressing Annie or gym or whatever else you’ve been doing these days. She met him at my bar and they totally hit it off!

Jeff: But I was so sure she was a lesbian!

Annie: Why? Because she didn’t hit on you?

Jeff: Well, dah!

Annie: Not every woman on the planet wants to sleep with you, Jeff!

Jeff: Said my girlfriend, whose roommate was totally drooling over me. How is Tracy by the way?

Troy: Tracy?

Annie: We live together in DC. And, Jeff, she wasn’t drooling!

Jeff: She literally tried to pick me up the second she met me!

Abed: Should we interrupt them?

Troy: No, I wanna see it.

Annie: She was not trying to pick you up! She was just startled seeing you in a towel!

Jeff: Yes, and then she almost yelled at you about how hot she thought I was!

Annie: Don’t flatter yourself! Tracy is like that with everybody, you should have seen her watching “Moonlighting” with Willis, she wouldn’t shut up! And besides, she has a boyfriend now.

Jeff: I don’t care about Tracy, I want you to admit that you think I am irresistible!

Annie: What is there to admit? I never denied it!

Jeff: Thank you!

Britta: You guys are awful! And they call me toxic.

Abed: This was a classic playful banter between lovers which received a very predictable but pleasing resolution. When you and Jeff tried the lovable banter trope, it always resulted in you insulting each other which was driving our group insane.

Britta: Whatever…Actually, I also have some news.

Jeff: That is not news.

Britta: Shut it, Winger! I am going to get a tattoo.

Annie: Really? Did you choose one already? I was thinking of getting one myself.

Troy, Jeff and Shirley: What?

Britta: Oh, so when I say I want to get a tattoo it’s not a big deal, but when Annie brings it up it’s a shocker!

Troy and Jeff: Yes!

Shirley: You have always, been very free emm spirited, Britta. You know I can imagine you have piercings and tattoos and maybe even green hair. While Annie has always been more traditional.

Britta: Just so you know, I once had purple hair and a nose ring and I looked awesome!

Annie: Hey, there is nothing wrong with tattoos! They can be very classy and, you know, sexy.

Shirley: Jeffrey, what did you do to my little pumpkin?

Jeff: I swear, this is the first time I am hearing about it!

Annie and Britta: What the hell?

Britta: Annie doesn’t need to ask for permission! She is not Jeff’s property!

Jeff: That’s not how I mean it at all! I was just trying to say…

Troy: Choose your words carefully, my friend.

Jeff: … that Annie is working with the FBI and they might be opposed to that’s sort of thing.

Annie: Nice try, Jeff. And so, you know, nobody cares about that stuff anymore, we are not in the fifties! And it’s my body, I can do what I want.

Jeff: Of course, I never said otherwise! And I would love to see what tattoo you are going to choose!

Annie: Good!

Abed: Maybe we should wrap it up for today? Troy and I have a lot of plans for the evening.

Shirley: Sightseeing?

Abed: Pillow fighting.

Jeff: And on this ridiculous note, I declare this meeting adjourned!


	14. Appletini and Scotch

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A nod to my #Appletini_103 one-shot, the story continues right after, but from Annie and Jeff’s point of view. A little steamy : )

‘Here is your appletini, Milady.’

‘Why thank you, Milord!’

It was Jeff’s second day of his yet another visit to Washington. He and Annie were at the party that was thrown by FBI for interns, they finished half of their stay there and it was good to blow off some steam. Jeff was staying for two weeks in DC to go to his interviews and to look at the houses that a realtor helped them pick, given their budget and time frame. He sold his apartment, the deal actually happened much faster than he thought, so he had to move to his mom’s house as he planned, not that he absolutely hated it, but he couldn’t wait to move in with Annie. And besides, sleeping in a room that has animals on the walls, wasn’t ideal for a forty-one-year-old man, to say the least. He was really happy to take this two-week break from his mom and Greendale in general, hopefully, in this time he will learn to like Washington. Change has always been hard for him, but it was a welcome change, teaching summer school and not being able to see Annie every day was reminding him constantly why he was doing this and even though he hated actually doing stuff, now was definitely not the time to give in to his laziness.

He was at the top of his game tonight, he missed it, being surrounded by less cartoonish world then what Greendale was. The interns were, of course, mostly Annie’s age but they were all bright and ambitious and he was very pleased that they clearly appreciated his wit and jokes. He missed this, he missed people really appreciate his abilities and talents, it wasn’t even about his ego, he truly was a very talented lawyer and he didn’t know how did he manage to fail when he graduated. Annie thinks that it’s because his personality was in conflict, that before his years at Greendale he never bothered with other people’s feelings, but that changed now. Caring was a big flaw for a lawyer, however, Annie assured him that it doesn’t necessarily need to be a bad thing. There is environmental law, lawyers who actually help people, not purely mooching the money of them. As example, Annie told him about the teams of lawyers she met in FBI, they were a part of Human Trafficking Prevention unit and fought crime with words instead of bullets. It was a new perspective that Jeff never considered, not that he was delusional enough to think he can get in something so prestigious, at least at this point, but there were definitely better options for him out there and DC, being well, the headquarters for law in the whole county, definitely gave more opportunities. Of course, it won’t be all sunshine and rainbows and he was fully aware that sometimes politics, money or people of power will be involved, it was inevitable at this type of work, but he hoped it can be balanced out. And, of course, he had Annie beside him now, who always had faith in him. Faith, hope, those things were such weird notions for Jeff, even now, but until he met his study group, they were virtually just words, that other people used, nothing more.

They have been officially dating only a little over two months now and most of that time, she spent in DC, but he knew that giving them a shot was the best decision he made in his life and he was still in awe that Annie was willing to do it too. Sometimes, when he was alone in Greendale, he had nightmares, about how he didn’t say anything and she left never coming back, how he later got the news that Annie met someone else and was getting married and Jeff would check her social media and see the picture of her tall, young and successful husband and a bunch of kids with her Disney-blue eyes on them. But then he would wake up and it will take him a few seconds to remind himself that everything that was happening in reality was a complete opposite of his nightmares, that Annie was waiting for him in Washington and that she was one call away.

And today he was out with her and it was amazing, he could picture it for their future in Washington, going out every weekend, meeting new people, Annie would be fighting the crime and shine like the bright soul she always has been, him getting a job that he would finally find interesting enough to put any effort in it. He did have one thing that was bugging this almost perfect evening, it manifested itself in a tall, brown-haired guy who would constantly follow them around and wouldn’t take the eyes off Annie. Not that Jeff was surprise that somebody from Annie’s new surroundings might take interest in her, she was hot, intelligent and good at pretty much everything she took interest in. But this guy seemed to have interest beyond a casual crush. Last time Jeff felt this kind of burning jealousy was when Annie had a thing with Rich, after that she kept her personal life low-key. But things were different now. He knew it was a bit of a jerk move and he probably had nothing to worry about to begin with, but he was especially clingy tonight, wanting to make sure that whoever that guy was, he got the message. Annie was his and he’d be damned if anybody try to take her away from him. The only person who Jeff would accept doing that, would be, well, Annie. If she ever stops loving him or gets bored with him or realizes that she could have someone who would be much better for her, he will let her go, but that was an option that would destroy him and he will do anything to never let that happen.

Annie was drinking her appletini, which she made him order again! and Jeff was sipping the scotch, good thing that the party was paid for and he can enjoy the best of the best and not to be broke the next day. They were both slightly tipsy and when Annie was tipsy, she could get a little handsy, even before they became a thing, she would be very tactile during these times. Now, that they were together she wasn’t shy at all with his body, which was getting a little inconvenient considering that they were in a public place and Annie looked especially good tonight. She was wearing a red dress that went up to her knees, it didn’t have any cleavage but it was quite tight and given that Jeff knew exactly what was under that, it didn’t take much of an effort to give his mind inappropriate images. To add up to all of it Annie was wearing a bright red lipstick, which until tonight he only saw in his wet dreams and it was making him a little dizzy, especially when she would put her hand was on his knee or hip like she was doing right now.

They were still at the bar, separating themselves from Annie’s colleagues. He was whispering sweet nonsense into her ear and she would giggle and give his hip another squeeze and he knew that they need to get to her place or he will end up making love to her in the public bathroom. He was just about to offer to call it a night, when Tracy found them clearly excited to share some news. Jeff sighed frustratedly but didn’t say anything considering that Tracy was kind enough to let him stay at their place and she was Annie’s friend.

‘You will not believe what I just heard!’ Tracy’s face split into a gossip-grin.

‘I think I will leave the two of you and get another drink,’ said Jeff, not wanting to participate in this particular conversation.

‘No, no, stay! You are involved in this!’ insisted Tracy.

‘What happened, Tracy?’ asked Annie rolling her eyes.

‘Pete, the Pete that has a crush on you, was just totally trash-talking Jeff to one of his buddies!’

‘How is that a good thing? And who the hell is Pete?’ asked Jeff having a strong suspicion that he already knew the answer.

‘It’s this jerk from cyber crime that has been following around Annie like a puppy ever since she rejected him.’

‘I never rejected him!’

‘Excuse me?’ Jeff’s brows went up. Annie smacked his shoulder and continued.

‘I never even talked to him properly, we worked only one day together and most of the time I was either busy with agent Swann or doing reports. And honestly, I wouldn’t even notice the whole crush thing if he didn’t ask Tracy if I was seeing someone.’

‘Yeah, don’t worry, Jeff, I rejected him for Annie,’ she laughed loudly ordering herself a margarita.

‘I still fail to see how this is good he was trash-talking me,’ smirked Jeff relaxing a little.

‘Because he is a dick! And it’s nice to know that he behaves like a little bitch whenever he can’t have something! You should have seen how mad he is, Annie being all over you. Seriously, you two should get a room.’

‘Please tell me that it won’t result in FBI investigating him,’ giggled Annie and Jeff looked at her with amusement, so now there will be crime jokes in their lives, great, just great.

‘Nahhh,’ said Tracy calmly taking her glass. ‘He doesn’t have balls for something like that, I already profiled him big time, mind you I profiled everybody in our unit. He is just a spoiled little ass who is used to mommy and daddy paying for Yale, his car or whatever else rich kids do these days. And now that he can’t get a girl, it brings a lovely color on him.’

‘As long as he keeps his distance I don’t care, but I kind of don’t like him talking bad about Jeff, maybe I should talk to him…’

‘I care even less, Annie, if anything it’s kind of doing it for me. As long as it doesn’t affect your career, he can blather all he wants.’

‘See, I told you it was some good juice!’ Tracy glanced at her phone and gasped. ‘Fuckity doodle! I have to run, Danny and I was supposed to meet half an hour ago! See yah!’

‘Fuckity doodle?’ smirked Jeff.

‘Yeah, it’s her new favorite expression,’ Annie leaned to touch his cheek and whispered. ‘Ready to get out of here?’

‘Hell, yeah!’

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

When they came home, they didn’t even make it to the bedroom, Tracy was out with Danny and Annie was sure she won’t be back any time soon, so when Jeff lifted her up, pressed her to the wall and started sucking on her neck she was already working his belt, by the time she could feel his fingers where she wanted them to, Annie was already very much ready, when Jeff touched her again and again, she couldn’t help but bite into his shoulder, in a few long minutes he was fully inside of her and she was already so close, Jeff’s attention was now once again on the crook of her neck and she knew what he was doing.

He didn’t like showing it, but she knew how jealous he can get about guys that are interested in her, that’s why after the Rich incident, she tried her best not to bring up any of her dates, to be fair somewhere during their third year at Greendale, so did he, up until whole Britta engagement, of course. Which actually in the end, did more good than it did bad, given it was one of the triggers that made Jeff to come to terms with his feelings for Annie.

She noticed his heavy gaze tonight and how he would keep her as close as possible to him, she didn’t mind, in fact she was trying to show him that he had nothing to worry about, but she understood where he was coming from. Being in a long-distance relationship was hard, especially for somebody like Jeff, who despite his superficial overconfidence had a lot of abandonment issues and fears of being left behind.

When they were done and Annie was already out of the shower, she noticed two big cups of tea on the coffee table, it was a little ritual that she and Jeff were incorporating into their lives. Jeff was already in his usual sleeping sweatpants, sitting on the couch, flicking trough the channels, she joined him and his arm was immediately around her shoulders, she snuggled closer and took a cup of her tea.

‘That was some good party. But it did convince me that we should get married as soon as possible,’ said Jeff casually avoiding Annie’s eyes, ‘just saying.’

‘Oh my God, please tell me you are not bringing this up again because of jealousy!’

‘You picked up on that, ha?’

‘Come on, Jeff, I already told you, you were never particularly subtle, thick and stubborn, yes. Master of disguise? Not so much.’

‘Thanks a lot!’ Jeff shifted and pouted a little.

‘You do know that getting married just because you want to make sure that nobody hits on me is a ridiculous reason? That’s not a guarantee and the notion of the wife being a property thing is long gone,’ she smirked making sure he knew she was teasing him.

‘Haha, very funny, Jeff is a possessive idiot,’ he finally looked at her and stuck out his tongue like a child. ‘I would agree with you if things were different, but aren’t we having this epic love story going on between us?’

‘You did not just say that!’ she giggled almost hysterically.

‘I sure did, but if you ever bring this up to anybody, I will deny it to the point of legally changing my name and fleeting the country.’

‘You are adorable!’

‘Annie,’ he looked completely serious now and she understood that this was the thing that was bothering him for real. ‘I just don’t see what’s the big deal at this point, I already brought it up like three times and I have to admit it kind of worries me you keep saying no.’

‘Four times, technically, but who counts?’

‘Fine, four times.’

‘Jeff,’ took off his arm and settled on his lap facing him, she hasn’t realized it was such a big deal to him, after all, he was the one that for years was telling everybody what a stupid thing marriage is. ‘I want us to get married and I am not just saying it for you to drop the subject. I want to spend the rest of my life with you and have a family and everything that comes with it. And I am definitely not saying “no”, I say “let’s do it a little later”. Maybe in a couple of months when you actually going to live here instead of being miles away. Call me old-fashioned, but a long-distance marriage is really not my thing, besides,’ she grinned attempting to lighten the mood. ‘You did just mention us having something epic here? Isn’t the wedding kind of has some finality in it? Abed would say it’s the happy ending of the movie, but still the ending. I guess I enjoy the fact that we are finally together and we are in this bubble, between Greendale where it’s all started and here where hopefully it will evolve into something even better, that I just want to savor the moment, that’s it.’

‘It’s the only reason? Because if you have doubts, I can understand that, but I need to know…’

She kissed him to shut up his fears but mostly to show him that he had nothing to worry about.

‘I have never been more certain about anything in my life. I love you and I always will.’

‘Good, because I think I kind of stuck with it too,’ his face changed into his usual obnoxious self and she knew that whatever issue they had it has been resolved. ‘But next time, it’s your turn to bring it up, I will not do it for the fifth time.’

‘Deal!’

Annie laughed excitedly imagining what’s that going to be like and captured Jeff’s lips in a long kiss.


	15. The Variables

‘Yes, call me if you hear anything, thanks!’ Annie turned off the screen. She was shaking a little.

‘How did it go?’ asked Jeff carefully.

‘Still no news, Tracy is on the lookout, but they haven’t made a decision, I think I need to sit down.’

‘Annie, breathe!’ Annie’s felt her legs get to jelly as she found the nearest bench. It was Sunday afternoon, she and Jeff spent most of the morning checking the houses and apartments, but unfortunately, none of them fitted their needs or budget. Jeff was already here for the whole week and they checked what it felt like hundreds of places, but still couldn’t find the one they would call their home. And now Annie had another issue to top on, sooner or later the internship will be over and she was actively thinking of what to do next. Thankfully, FBI offered the trainee program, which was technically a paid job with benefits and everything, it was still one the lowest tiers in hierarchy, but it would give Annie the experience she desperately needed to become a fully-flashed agent one day. Of course, as soon as she heard about it, she applied immediately, but so did over half of the interns and most of them had the advantages of fancy colleges, trust funds and other things she simply didn’t have. Hell, she still haven’t completed her forensics degree, which wouldn’t be that big of a deal if she was coming from MIT, for instance.

But Annie was from Greendale, the college that once gave a degree to a dog and no matter how hard she worked and how good her supervisor thought she was, it still mattered. Jeff’s interviews, on the other hand, were going really well, he already had a second appointment with one of the firms he applied to. His natural charisma, silver tongue and ability to persuade anybody of anything were essential in his field, so people were willing to overlook his slightly bumpy past, it’s not like Jeff was planning to work for the government, so it was easier for him. And Annie couldn’t help but give in to her anxieties, Jeff was already pulling so much weight, especially financially, his contribution in buying the place will be much more noticeable than hers, especially now that his mother offered to pitch in. Apparently, she had some big saving account for many years, first both Jeff and Annie felt completely uncomfortable with the idea, but after they talked and remembered how Britta handled her parents’ help, they agreed it would be stupid to reject the support.

Doreen promised that it won’t affect her own life and she was saving this money for Jeff anyway, for something big like starting a family, for instance. And it’s not like Annie could actually ask her parents for help, they would never do that and she felt guilty that her decision to move to such expensive city was now affecting Jeff and his mom. Jeff said that he didn’t mind one bit and reminded her again and again, that he hated Greendale and this change was just as desirable for him as it was for her. But still, even with all their money pulled in, it was not enough. And taking a loan was a suicide at this point, Annie was pretty sure no reliable bank would even give them that kind of loan, anyway.

So now she was hyperactivating on the busy street and could barely hear Jeff’s voice.

‘Annie, ANNIE!’ he shook her back into consciousness. ‘Look at me, it’s going to be all right.’

‘I know, I just…’

‘No, no just. Everything is going to be fine. You will get your job, I promise you!’

‘You don’t know that!’

‘I do know!’ he insisted.

‘How can you be so sure?’ she laughed hysterically. ‘I come from Greendale, Jeff. GREENDALE! How many times you said yourself what a shitty place that is?’

‘Agreed, it’s horrible, and yet you were accepted at FBI.’

‘What?’

‘Do you think they don’t know what Greendale is? They probably did background checks on every single one of you and they invited you anyway, so I am pretty sure your chances are as good as anybody’s,’ he grabbed her shoulders and smiled. ‘But by the time you become a president, I would advise you to find a way to demolish that school to the ground.’

‘I am just worried…You know, even Tracy, she applied too, to work at profiling unit, but she has a proper training in the academy! Granted, she is still a student, but still!’

‘Didn’t you mention profiling is like top of tops? You applied for communications and forensics, which is slightly easier and, from what I gathered, more flexible.’

‘Yes, but…’

‘And even if you don’t get a job at FBI now, worst case scenario, you have experience and a degree in hospital administration, you are extremely intelligent, you can definitely find something to do here!’

‘But what about the house?’ she asked weekly, feeling her breathing getting back to normal. Wow, this was full on panic attack she had here.

‘What about it?’

‘We still haven’t found one! And you are leaving next week!’

‘True, but we still have time and besides we have like three more meetings today. Let’s get some lunch and get going.’

‘Thank you,’ she squeezed his hand and stood up, her legs were still a little weak but she was definitely feeling better now.

‘Anytime,’ he kissed her lips quickly. ‘I love you.’

‘I love you too.’

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

‘This can’t be right address, can it?’ asked Annie carefully.

‘Cheryl’s text says it is,’ Jeff frowned.

It was late Thursday night and they were standing in front the block full of small, but cute townhouses. The house-hunting kept on going and they were kind of getting anxious, especially since Annie still haven’t received the news about her applications. Jeff was supposed to leave in a couple of days and while he had good chances to get an offer for a job, the house thing was not progressing.

The building they were checking now was quite old, made of red brick and had a few scratches here and there but the neighborhood was very good, it was kind of isolated and it took them awhile to find it, but in all other aspects this place was perfect, at least from the outside.

‘If it is the right place, it must cost a fortune!’ squinted Annie, she came here straight from work, it was raining like crazy and she was exhausted. If Cheryl, their realtor, was yet to show them another disaster she will strangle her.

‘Let’s see what Cheryl has to say,’ shrugged Jeff. In about ten seconds a tall blonde woman in her fifties waved them from one of the townhouses inviting them in. Annie took Jeff’s hand feeling extremely nervous and noticed that his palm was sweaty too.

‘Hello, hello! How have you been doing my two favorite customers?’ she asked in her singing voice, it was sweet to a point of nausea. Jeff didn’t know where Annie found her, this woman was particularly unpleasant, but, apparently, she was good at her job, which was a big doubt for Jeff so far.

‘Cheryl, how many times I told you we don’t need the sugar-coating?’ asked Jeff impatiently. ‘Why are we here? You know our price range, no way we could afford this place.’

‘Hold your horses, Jeffrey! Let me walk you through first. Let’s get inside the weather is horrible today!’ she ran in the house and left the blue front door open.

‘There has to be a catch, right?’ whispered Annie to him.

‘If not, then Cheryl wants you to rent your womb out to a gay couple to pay for this place.’

They went inside and Annie knew, this was the place. This was THE house. It wasn’t very big, but spacious enough to fit in necessary furniture, it had two floors. First floor had a living room, which, to Annie’s excitement had a fireplace already installed, a joined kitchen and a small bathroom, guest bathroom as Cheryl put it. Second floor had one big bedroom, a nice bathroom and a second tiny room which would be perfect for an office or nursery. The place sure needed some work, the walls needed more color and one of the doors was missing, but it wouldn’t take too much work to make this place livable. Annie wanted to squeal with excitement tugging Jeff’s sleeve and looking at him, she knew he was thinking the same thing, but he made big eyes and she knew what he meant. Don’t show you are interested, Annie took a deep breath and let Jeff take the lead, he was, after all, the most persuasive person she ever met.

‘It’s not bad,’ he said smirking. ‘But I still want to know what the catch here.’

‘Not bad?’ Cheryl sounded positively offended. ‘It’s perfect! Look at all the space you have and there is an exit to the yard with a playground! And…’

‘The catch, Cheryl? The place is good, I give you that, but there is no way that it’s in our price range.’

‘That is the best part! The owner is very eager to get rid of it, he has some tax issues and he is willing to give it up for almost half the price, given that it will be sold pretty much immediately, which is just perfect for the two of you! You have no idea what strings I had to pull off for you to be the first ones to see this place.’

‘Tax issues? No tax issues would motivate a person to sell something like that for the price we are talking about,’ said Annie carefully. Something was fishy about it.

‘There might be another thing…’ Cheryl shook her head carefully.

‘Which is?’ prompted Jeff.

‘I promise, it only matters if you are superstitious. The main reason why this place is so cheap is because…Well, a few months ago there might have been a…well, somebody was killed here.’

Annie and Jeff looked at each other, while Cheryl continued.

‘Apparently it was pretty nasty, but as you can see it was all cleaned up and now it’s a great place! And believe me, for that price in Washington a few dead bodies, it’s not that big of a deal!’

‘Would you excuse us for one second?’ said Jeff grabbing Annie’s arm, they went downstairs and made sure that Cheryl’s curious ears were as far as possible.

‘I think we should take it!’ they said simultaneously.

‘Yes?’ asked Jeff.

‘Yes! I don’t care if somebody was killed there, people die all the time! And I lived above Dildopolis and had to tend to minor stab wounds at least three times and I have a gun! And…’

‘I get it, I get!’ Jeff was a little concerned that Annie was almost just as enthusiastic about it as Cheryl was about the dead bodies, but the offer was still good. ‘I don’t care about it either! And even if there are ghosts here, be my guest, we survived Greendale, they will be afraid of us, before we get scared!’

‘So, what? Are we taking it?’

‘I think we should!’ he grabbed her shoulders looking her right in the eyes, Annie noticed the familiar glimmer when Jeff was about to do something he was particularly giddy about.

‘Let’s take it!’ she launched herself into his arms, they found their home.


	16. 25 Hours

The boxes were packed, the car was ready to go and the goodbyes to Jeff’s mom were said. After the house was found the events went spiral, to be honest Jeff was hoping that as soon as he moves, it will get much calmer, he was drained both physically and mentally. It felt, like everything that happened in the past four months flashed so quickly that his mind still couldn’t fully adjust.

He got into his car and went to the apartment 303 to spend one last night in Greendale with Annie there and to pick up few boxes with her stuff she wanted to take to Washington. Apparently, Britta was also organizing small farewell party for them, but Jeff didn’t care much for it, he couldn’t even drink considering that he will be driving for hours tomorrow and the plan was to leave with the dawn, besides, he was trying to cut his drinking anyway.

The work on their house in DC was done pretty quickly, Annie was the one who was in charge of it, she also insisted that will buy furniture and all other things they need for the house, he didn’t mind, he knew that she will be doing it anyway. Annie loved decorating and had a binder full of ideas how to style a home. And besides, it’s not like Jeff could go back and forth from Greendale to Washington whenever the workers needed the opinion on something. Now, that he finally got a job and could move permanently, it was a tremendous relief. He was joining one of the consulting places in DC at it wasn’t his dream job per say, but it had a relatively good pay, especially in comparison to what he was making in Greendale, and insurance, which was enough for now. And since he was still working on his BAR, it was perfect for something temporary.

More importantly, he was moving on with his life, completely, he was going to leave the purgatory he lived for the past two and a half years, being with Annie made him feel alive again and now he was consuming everything that this world had to offer. Speaking of Annie, just as Jeff predicted, she got the job. When she yelled the news to him over the phone two weeks before the end of her internship, Jeff was trying to sound surprised and excited, but really, he had no doubts it will turn out that way. She was extremely busy these days with her work in Communications and the house, so planning the big move from Greendale to Washington was a little tricky. She needed to find at least three spare days, so it involved a lot of planning and negotiating. Eventually, she managed to fit her schedule to make a trip to Greendale around the beginning of new school semester.

Jeff parked his car in front of the building which his friends left one by one forever, first Troy, then Abed and now Annie. Britta was the only one who hasn’t left yet and was now looking for new roommate, since she can’t afford to pay for place on her own.

Unfortunately, nobody outside the Greendale could make it to the party. Shirley was busy with her son’s baby crisis, Troy and Abed couldn’t make time to come from LA, so it was just Frankie, Britta, Chang, the dean and Jeff with Annie. But the former study group promised to visit them in DC quite soon for a house warming party, so there was that.

‘Grab those cups, would you?’ he heard Britta’s annoyed voice when entering the 303 apartment. Last time he was here, he was picking up Annie for their first official date, that was one good memory.

‘I am not a housewife!’ yelled Chang and ran to the bathroom.

‘Hey!’ said Frankie noticing Jeff. ‘We have a little crazy town here. Are you all set?’

‘Yep, just need to pick up Annie’s stuff. Where is she by the way?’

‘She and Craig went out to buy some stuff,’ Frankie leaned and whispered conspiratorially. ‘Apparently, Britta forgot to buy food and all we have here some peanuts and weird green drink, which looks more like a mouthwash than an actual drink.’

‘How great!’ grinned Jeff. ‘Britta Brittad our farewell party, it’s kind of fitting if you think about it.’

‘Yep, I still don’t know where that came from, but it feels kind of right,’ she smiled at him and had a weird look on her face.

‘What?’

‘You look different.’

‘Well, I did cut my hair recently and dropped a few pounds with moving here and there, thanks for noticing by the way,’ he tried for a joke not sure where Frankie was going with this.

‘No, I meant…when we met you looked a little depressed and now you are all bouncy and energetic, I’ve never seen you like that. Britta says you were like this when you guys met. She also, mentioned that you were completely insufferable and was going out of your way to get to her pants.’

‘True,’ he grinned thinking back how he created the fake study group which resulted in something incredible. ‘Yeah, well, you know, life kind of has this tendency to bend you down from time to time.’

‘But it gives you back something too, right?’ Frankie offered kindly.

‘Yeah,’ he breathed out. ‘After a lot of crap, every once in awhile something good does happen.’

‘Annie looks happy too,’ she squinted knowing exactly what he meant.

‘Well, I should hope so! She got an awesome boyfriend and an awesome job, what else is there? The whole package!’

‘Jeff,’ Frankie looked at him raising her eyebrow. He considered to brush it off like he usually does, but this was probably the last time he is going to see Frankie, so he can open up a little bit.

‘Annie makes me happy and I do my best to return the favor,’ he said in a quiet voice, hoping that Britta was too busy calming down Chang.

‘Good,’ Frankie nodded and didn’t say anything else. A few seconds later, the door swung open, Annie and dean came back. Jeff and Frankie rushed to help with the bags and Britta and Chang finally emerged from the bathroom, it’s been awhile since Jeff saw Britta this annoyed, it was hilarious.

‘Thank God, you are all here,’ she said loudly. ‘Chang is even crazier than usual!’

‘Shut up! You made me upset!’

‘I just asked you to pick up the cups! And we are not doing this again!’

‘Fine!’ yelled Chang and settled on the chair turning away from Britta.

‘Aww, I am gonna miss this!’ Annie teared up and sniffled loudly.

‘Annie, why are you crying?’ asked Frankie concerned.

‘It’s been like this all day,’ said Britta rolling her eyes.

‘Hey! Hippie-jumbo, you didn’t even bother to buy food for our so-called farewell party, it’s perfectly normal that Annie feels a little emotional, we are leaving, after all!’ said Jeff defensively.

‘Jezz, no need to be so touchy, you don’t need to impress her anymore with being all protective, she is already sleeping with you,’ frowned Britta.  
‘I wouldn’t mind if Jeffrey protected me, if you know what I mean,’ said dean winking at Jeff.

‘Unfortunately, I always know what you mean, Craig,’ Jeff shook his head and put an arm around Annie’s shoulders.

‘You don’t have to rub it in! We get it, Jeffrey is all yours now!’ dean looked slightly offended at the gesture.

‘Jeff was the one who hugged me, dean,’ said Annie carefully.

‘I know you made him do that to show it off to me! And ouch!’

‘Can you imagine what it’d be like if the Jeff from six years ago, saw this Jeff,’ she waved at him, ‘all domestic and relationshippy with Annie?’

‘He would probably have jumped in his car and drove away to Canada,’ giggled Annie.

‘Hey!’ protested Jeff, even though it was probably the truth.

‘Oh, come on, Jeff, until Annie your longest relationship was with your car and it’s still going, mind you. Annie, I’d be careful this bitch can take your man!’ said Britta and everybody cracked into laughter.

‘All right, on this crazy note, let’s start this party, shall we?’ suggested Jeff unwrapping the bottle of diet coke that Annie bought for him.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

*Grendale7Forever* text-chain:

Britta: hey, how is the big move going?

Jeff: ok, although annie slept through most of the trip so far *eyerollemoji*

Annie: Hey! It’s the first time in weeks I managed to sleep for more than 5 hours in a row * sleepingface*

Jeff: i know, u needed it

Shirley: Ooh, how nice! I forgot u are moving today!

Troy: where u guys now?

Jeff: in the crappiest motel of all time, in the middle of nowhere

Annie: It’s not that bad! *eyerollemoji*

Abed: be careful, in motels like this people get kidnapped by aliens

Troy: *screamingface* *screamingface*

Britta: i still can’t believe u guys actually went for the road trip instead of *plane*

Annie: Well, SOMEBODY is way too attached to things! * face_with_stuck-out_tongue* *automobile*

Jeff: hey! u took your giant pink pillow!

Annie: It’s a pillow, I could fit into my backpack!

Britta: annie, u really should reconsider this moving in thing with jeff * face_with_stuck-out_tongue* * face_with_stuck-out_tongue*

Jeff: thank u for ur support *sadface_emoji*

Britta: i’m just messing with ya! text us when u guys get there

Annie: We will *heartemoji*


	17. New Home

‘Annie, I am home!’ Jeff opened the blue door to their new house and felt a little de-ja-vu. It felt like this was something he saw in a dream, but he couldn’t really remember it. He came back from his work, it was his second week back into the law world and it felt pretty good, although he hated waking up this early every day and the fact that he couldn’t slack off as much as he did before kind of annoyed him, but he could already tell that Washington was growing on him.

Their place was now almost fully furnished. Annie chose a light-yellow color for walls downstairs since they didn’t have many windows, reasoning that this way it will have a warming effect. They still have quite a few boxes unpacked, most of them were with clothes and small items, like Annie’s pillows, small decorations and Jeff’s collection of moisturizes. When Jeff entered the living room, he saw Annie unpacking yet another box, it was her day off so she was all homey, wearing shorts and bright pink T-shirt, her hair was pulled into the ponytail and her face was really focused on the task at hand. She was holding a bunch of frames with pictures, clearly trying to find place for them. When she saw Jeff, her face changed from concentration to a huge smile and Jeff felt that this was the moment he’s been waiting for ever since they “cleaned the vacuum” as Britta put it.

‘Hey!’ said Annie still not letting go of the pictures. ‘How was your day?’

‘Fine,’ he kissed her and moved one of the boxes to see what pictures she was holding. ‘A little tired, still can’t get used to this traffic out there, it’s worse than in Denver.’

‘Yeah, well, welcome to a big city. What do you think? Should we put them all out or is this too much?’

‘Hmm, we sure should put this one on,’ he said looking at the picture of the two of them covered in food, it was taken during the food-fight and was one of his favorites.

‘Really? We are all dirty here,’ Annie squinted her nose.

‘Dirty?’ Jeff immediately picked up the word.

‘Jeff, you are insatiable!’ she smacked his shoulder. ‘Can you please focus?’

‘OK, fine,’ he rolled his eyes checking all the pictures Annie was holding. ‘Well, I like this one too,’ he found a picture that was taken just recently, he and Annie in front of their new house, Annie was holding a key and grinning like crazy while Jeff had a small self-satisfied smile, his arm was securely around Annie’s shoulders. When did she have time to print it out?

‘Yeah, that’s the one! I also want to put the pictures with your mom and our study group, especially this one! It’s my favorite!’

Jeff recognized that day immediately, it was taken in the apartment 303 at Christmas time after their disastrous performance at the Glee contest. Annie, Britta, Shirley and Troy were wearing the ugly Christmas/Hannukah sweaters, Abed was in his green pjs and Jeff and Pierce were in their regular clothes. This was the time when they were all together, Greendale Seven, it was a good memory.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

It’s been almost two months since Jeff and Annie moved and life was slowly turning into a comfortable routine and habits. They would meet for lunch, have date nights, weekend shopping, sometimes they would hang out with Tracy and her boyfriend Danny, apparently, they were getting pretty serious, so Tracy was comfortable to introduce him to her “virtually married friends”.

Ever since they moved in and life became less crazy, Jeff was wondering if Annie will finally bring up the subject of marriage. He didn’t want to be pushy, but it was still something that was bothering him a little. He knew that she loved him and she clearly was enjoying their life together, but something about them getting married was very important to Jeff. He couldn’t really explain it, hell until last year he was completely opposed to the idea of marriage on principle. Was it his insecurities or the fact he was over forty? He knew that Annie was the one in every possible aspect, but she was still young and maybe for her it was too early. So, no matter how much he wanted it, he will keep it to himself until she is ready.

He was meeting her for lunch in the city, Annie was supposed to drop off some papers at the City Hall and promised that there was a nice Italian restaurant where they can eat, the place was not very far from his work so Jeff got here a little early. It was early November, so it was quite chilly outside, but at least the sun was making up for it. In about ten minutes he saw Annie in her black coat coming downstairs from the building. Her face was looking for him in the crowd and she practically sprinted to him once noticed. He leaned for the usual hello kiss but Annie bit her lip and glanced at him nervously and he knew that their lunch will be either cancelled or disturbed by whatever was going on.

‘Are you all right?’ he asked squinting.

‘Yes, everything is great, topsy-dobsy even!’

‘Well, then let’s go for lunch?’ he offered carefully.

‘Yeah, sure, but…’

‘Yes?’

‘I was thinking, while I was you know there,’ she waved at the City Hall behind her and rambled on. ‘There was this couple that was filling the form and I was thinking maybe we should too, I mean with all our work and classes and everything, we don’t have time to actually plan anything big anyway. But we are living together, finally, and it just makes sense to do it now, unless of course you don’t want to or want the actual thing, or…’

‘Annie, you lost me,’ he grabbed her shoulders to slow down the speech. ‘What is going on?’

‘I was just thinking…’ she sighed and took a deep breath. ‘What if we elope?’

‘Elope?’ he repeated idiotically, finally realizing where she was going with this. ‘As in elope, elope or is it some slang for the FBI talk?’

‘Elope, elope! I mean we are two feet away from a City Hall and it will only take a few minutes to fill in the forms and the judge can make it official tomorrow! I just figured that if we wanted to have like a proper big wedding, we would need to wait at least another year, you know, to save the money and to organize everything and I am not sure I want to wait this long.’

Jeff’s mouth fell dry and it felt like he lost his ability to talk, his mind was racing and a suddenly chilly November day felt like 90 degrees. He glanced at Annie who was still biting her lip nervously waiting for him to say anything, well, once again Annie completely knocked him off. Of course, they agreed that this time round she will be the one who bring up the wedding subject, but he was thinking about the actual wedding, given Annie’s love for this kind of stuff and he was willing to go through with it if it meant she agrees to be his wife.

‘But, don’t you want to have like a proper wedding? With flowers and dresses? What about your wedding binder?’

‘I did want it, but now…’ she shook her head a little. ‘We have something amazing going here and it doesn’t matter if we have a wedding or just go in there and ask the judge to sign papers. It just feels right, unless, of course, you don’t….’

‘Let’s go,’ Jeff interrupted not letting her finish the sentence. ‘Let’s get married.’

‘Yeah?’

‘Yes!’ he kissed her deeply and he was a little drunk with this new thought. Annie is going to be his wife. ‘I love you.’

‘I love you too! Always.’


	18. A day in the future. Epilogue.

It's been two months after Jeff and Annie began their proper life together. Today they were hosting a little house-warming party for their closest friends. Life became somewhat stable and they already got into new mutual habits, although, of course, there were still many things so very new to them. Everybody loved Jeff at his new place at work, just as Annie predicted, his boss couldn’t wait for Jeff to get his BAR so the firm could fully exploit his skills. 

The former study group was sitting around the table the way they used to hundreds of times on the campus, only now it was a smaller table in the house, in another city. Jeff and Annie did invite everybody, but dean and Frankie were busy at Greendale and Chang on his own could never afford this trip. So today it was just them, Annie, Jeff, Shirley, Britta, Troy and Abed, minus Pierce of course, although Jeff and Annie did have some of his sperm hidden in the house as creepy as it was. There was something poetic about it, being just them, all together again for the first time since Troy left. They were drinking wine and laughing, going back to all the crazy adventures they had together, to paintball and debate, to Abed and Troy’s blanket and pillow forts, to the foosball with Germans, to Christmases and expulsion. 

After yet another memory, Jeff took Annie’s hand into his and both Britta and Shirley froze momentarily staring at Annie’s ring-finger, which now, well, had a ring on it. In a heartbeat, both of them glanced at Jeff’s left hand which was on the table holding a glass of wine, they undoubtedly noticed the exact same gold band on his annular. 

‘You guys got married?’ exclaimed Britta and Shirley at the same time, eyes wide. Abed and Troy opened their mouths. 

‘I can’t believe you just noticed,’ giggled Annie. ‘I told Jeff that you, Shirley, would definitely see that immediately.’

‘Were you even planning telling us?!’ yelled Troy and then ran to hug them both. ‘How could you do that? What about the wedding? And gifts! Oh my God I am going to explode now!’

‘For your information, I noticed the rings the second we entered your place, but didn’t say anything in case you were role-playing Lord of the Rings or something like that. But now that I know you two are married it makes me happy, congratulations.’ 

‘Thank you, Abed,’ Jeff rolled his eyes and smiled at Annie, googly eyes and all. 

‘But what about the wedding?’ asked Shirley her eyes still wide. ‘Why didn’t you invite us? I mean I know the two of you are not Christian, but if you told me I could have asked our pastor to make an exception, you could have had it in our church, I can assure you it’s beautiful!’

‘Shirley, thank you for that, but we didn’t have a wedding, per say. We kind of… eloped,’ said Jeff carefully.

‘Yeah, it was really spontaneous, Jeff was meeting me for lunch one day and we went to this place that was right outside the city hall and we were just, hey let’s make it official, so we filled in the forms, bought the rings and bam! Next day I am Mrs. Winger.’

‘It’s still sound weird,’ frowned Jeff to himself, but one look at Annie and he was beaming again.

‘Yeah, it kind of does,’ giggled Annie remembering their little incident at the hotel during Inspector Spacetime convention.

‘So how long have you been married now?’ asked Britta suspiciously. 

‘Oh, a little over two weeks,’ said Annie taking another sip of wine. As soon as she put down her glass, she felt a smack on her shoulder, Britta was now hitting both her and Jeff while yelling at them.

‘I can’t believe this! We spent six years, no, almost seven years now, watching the two of you dancing around each other and you didn’t even invite us to see the main event? What the hell, Wingers?!’

‘Britta, stop hitting us,’ Jeff growled defensively. ‘And we didn’t plan this, OK? It just happened!’

‘But you didn’t even tell us!’ cried Troy.

‘We did, just now, we were planning on telling anyway, I swear, I was just curious if anyone would notice the rings, that’s all,’ Annie squealed distancing herself from Britta.

‘I can appreciate it, but as your friends we were supposed to be there for a big day, Annie should have been wearing an overly expensive white dress, while Shirley and Britta would have been the bridesmaids and me and Troy would give Annie away, have a talk with Jeff making sure that if he hurts her, we would hunt him down and kill him,’ said Abed calmly.

‘Yes, to all of that, yes! We want a wedding!’ squealed Troy. 

‘That’s it,’ Jeff got up towering over everybody, preparing himself for the Winger speech. ‘Everybody, calm down! Troy, Abed if you want a wedding, find girls and get married or marry each other, I don’t care. Shirley, need I remind you that Annie is Jewish and I am an agnostic, so we wouldn’t have a church wedding anyway. Britta, please stop punching people when you are angry, I know it’s OK for Greendale, but here you might get into prison for that. Annie and I got married in the city hall because we wanted to, and because between my new job, Annie’s work and all the exams we just didn’t have time or energy to organize a wedding!’

‘Yeah!’ Annie jumped up joining Jeff. ‘And weddings cost a fortune, by the way! We just bought our first house and instead of congratulating us, you guys are yelling and punching and crying!’

Troy, Abed, Britta and Shirley looked at each other clearly slightly embarrassed. 

‘Oh my, from now on we will have double-Winger speeches, won’t we?’ said Shirley breaking the silence. And everybody cracked into laughter. 

‘No, you guys are right, we are sorry,’ said Britta and now they were all hugging together. Shirley was now crying real tears and said that despite them not having a church wedding she will pray that Jesus will bless their union. Troy galloped to the kitchen where Jeff said was a bottle of champagne they saved for occasion. Abed first hugged Annie and then Jeff, the same way Jeff hugged Abed six months ago at the airport, sending him off to a better tomorrow.


End file.
